Dan CharterWhen the most hyped fight in living history starts on 2nd May (3rd May here), the whole world will be watching. The trouble is, in Dubai it’s going to be about 7am on Sunday morning. As everything in ‘the city that never sleeps’ shuts down at 3am at the latest, it’s very unlikely that you are going to be watching the greatest fight of all time anywhere which serves an alcoholic beverage (this is of course a pre-requisite for witnessing any kind of fight, along with the occasional shout of “Go on son!” “Chin him!!!” “This geezer’s getting banged out in round five,” and “I reckon I’d knock him clean out mate.”).
The Solution
But where you CAN go is the cinema! Novo has announced it is to open up six of its cinemas across the UAE for fight enthusiasts to come along from 5am, eat breakfast, and pay 99AED for the privilege. It’s a nice offer, but I think I’ll stick to FirstRowSports on the old laptop in my lovely comfortable bed. But thanks.
Whether or not somewhere like Fibber’s or Barasti will use their pull to open up the doors for the beer ladz to get involved, remains to be seen. Either way, it’s probably a McDelivery and a coffee for me, rather than any yellow liquid before a full day’s work on a Sunday.
Here’s some stats about the fight in case you care:
Fight Purse: $200 million
Mayweather Cut: $120 million
Pacquiao Cut: $80 million
Cheapest Ticket: $1,000
Expected Pay-per-View Take: $500 million
Fighter Profiles:
[column size=one_half position=first ]
Manny Pacquiao 57-5-2 (38KO)
Age: 35
Height: 5’6”
Reach: 67”
Rounds: 407
KO%: 59.3%
[/column]
[column size=one_half position=first ]
Floyd Mayweather 47-0 (26KO)
Age: 37
Height: 5’8”
Reach: 72”
Rounds: 363
KO%: 55.3%
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