Mayweather vs. Cotto Boxing Fight Tonight 2012 Prompts Record Payday Results
ST LOUIS (LALATE) – The Mayweather vs. Cotto boxing fight tonight 2012 has already prompted record payday results for Mayweather. With start time already underway for the boxing fight tonight’s undercard bouts, Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto are already in the record books. Tonight’s May 5, 2012 boxing fight has been confirmed to news by Nevada officials as boasting the highest guarantee in boxing sports history. Mayweather when he takes to the ring tonight will get a guarantee of at least thirty-two million dollars to fight Miguel Cotto, despite whatever results occur.
Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer confirms to news that Mayweather will get at least thirty-two million dollars, breaking the previous guarantee paid to Mike Tyson. Tyson earned a guarantee for the thirty million fight against Evander Holyfield in 1997, the fight in which Mike bit part of Holyfield’s ear off. Cotto will get an eight million dollar guarantee tonight to fight, en vivo, on PPV.
But for boxing fans, some items haven’t changed. What time is the fight tonight, what time does the fight start, and what channel is the Mayweather fight on? Nothing has changed for Mayweather in the last two years. On a Cinco De Mayo weekend, Floyd is back in the same venue, the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tonight’s boxing fight is on the same cable TV channel again, HBO PPV. The fight has the same start time of 9 PM EST with undercard fights at 6 PM EST. And Mayweather is dominating news predictions to win tonight, as he defends his junior middleweight title challenge against another competitor. The only thing that has changed is his opponent: Miguel Cotto.
But as fans await the Mayweather vs Cotto fight tonight, there is far more at play. There is a mixture of unanswered issues with Manny Pacquiao. There is an upcoming jail time for Mayweather for the Josie Harris abuse photos and conviction. And there is the debate whether Mayweather will go down in history this decade as one of the highest grossing sports athlete.
Two years ago this week, Mayweather made news with a $22.5 million guarantee against Shane Mosley. Mayweather, understanding his draw among different demographics, has consistently booked his fights on Cinco De Mayo weekends. But while he earned a twenty-five million guarantee against Victor Ortiz, Mayweather’s results against Ortiz did not guarantee him critic’s respect. The Mayweather vs. Ortiz fight was embarrassing.
Tonight, news analysts expect Mayweather vs. Cotto to end with Mayweather the winner. And while he is teamed up with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions tonight, Mayweather will still not sell 2.5 million subscribers for PPV, the record last set by Oscar and Floyd in their 2007.
Yet, Mayweather won’t admit several items have changed since last year. The first is the Josie Harris case. Floyd Mayweather will begin his jail sentence in June. Josie Harris (photos below) and Floyd Mayweather allegations headed to a Las Vegas courtroom in 2003. Mayweather faced felony battery charges at the time. Harris later retracted her testimony. But in 2010, Harris was victimized by the boxer.
Josie Harris Pictures
Josie Harris Photos 1
Josie Harris Photos 2
Josie Harris Photos 3
She told police “Not too longer after the police left, [Mayweather] knocked on my son’s bedroom/ bathroom door to be let in and my son did. At this time I did not know he was in the house standing over as I slept on the couch.”
Harris claimed that Floyd punched her and threatened to break her arm and kill her. She told her kids to run for the community’s security gate, but claimed Mayweather threatened to beat the children if they called police or ran away. Harris claimed the children didn’t listen to their dad, ran for it, only to be chased by Mayweather allowing Harris to escape herself.
She told police “My kids heard me screaming and yelling for help as I screamed to tell them to call 911 or run out the house to the security gate to get help.” She added “He yelled fiercely at the children as he continued to beat me in front of them that if they ran or tried to call the police he would beat them the same way. I kept yelling and crying to please run run run out and get help.”
Tonight’s fight wasn’t changed despite Mayweather’s conviction. He was initially ordered to serve 90 days in jail and to surrender by January 6, 2012. But the court changed its position, ruling that Mayweather may turn himself in on June 1, 2012.
The other item that has changed is Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather and Pacquiao have certainly hinted about a fight together since 2010. But in December 2011, they told news that tonight’s fight would be Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao on May 5, not Pacquiao vs. Peterson, nor Mayweather vs. Cotto.
But soon, Manny Pacquiao’s camp including Freddie Roach were telling news that a Mayweather fight wasn’t desired. Fans disagreed. Roach told news “I think that Lamont Peterson is a great opponent for Manny Pacquiao if the Mayweather fight doesn’t happen, in my opinion. That is, if Lamont really doesn’t want to take the fight with Amir Khan.”
Roach told news that he was only slightly “interested” in Mayweather, and quickly uses Mayweather’s short jail time a reason not to pursue any 2012 fight date. “There’s other fights out there, yes, but the thing is, we are interested in Mayweather.” He added “If that can’t happen because of Mayweather’s issues, then that would be very disappointing.”
While it remains unclear how Cotto prepared for tonight’s fight, Roach told news that it’s hard for any boxer to prepare for a fight against Mayweather. “I will bring in a whole new crew of sparring partners, guys that can imitate Floyd well. There isn’t a lot of guys in the world that are like Floyd, so it would be tough to find them,” Roach tells abs-cbnnews.com. “We would prepare for his counter punching ability, and his speed, which is maybe equal to Manny’s, if not better.”
And while Mayweather vs. Cotto is expected to end with Mayweather as the winner, Roach contends he knows what it takes to defeat Floyd Mayweather. “I think we can take advantage of those [bad Floyd boxing] habits “. He added “He does have some bad habits that can be exposed.” But that exposure won’t happen tonight.
How much will Mayweather make tonight? It all depends on the PPV sales. Mayweather is expected to earn in excess of one hundred million tonight. In 2010, Forbes reported news that Mayweather’s previous twelve month earnings surpassed $65 million. During the same period, Tiger Woods earned $105 million. Mayweather’s paychecks at the time came from the Juan Manuel Marquez fight ($25 million) and the Shane Mosley fight ($40 million). Tonight’s fight airs tonight on tv channel HBO, in PPV, with undercard fights starting at 9 PM EST.
