Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao fight sport event of 2015

Floyd Mayweather will face Manny Pacquiao in the richest fight in boxing history

Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao tickets are the hottest property in town. Only 500 were on general sale with the rest distributed by the fighters, promoters, television networks Showtime and HBO and the MGM Grand.

One fan, Ade Adebayo, 34, from Brighton was lucky enough to get hold of a ticket when they were released last week and here he tells us his story and his hopes for the fight. 

 

I booked the trip to Las Vegas back on December 13. One of my friends, Toby, was convinced the fight was going to happen and we needed to book it before it was announced and the prices sky-rocketed. So we booked it and waited for the announcement.

Christmas and New Year came and went and the fight was not announced. Then it looked like it was going to be announced during half-time of the Super Bowl. It didn't happen.

Then we thought it was going to be announced during the NBA All-Star game. It wasn't.

But eventually it was announced late one Friday in February and we could not believe it was finally going to happen.

Even though we had our flights and hotel booked we were not sure if we were going to be able to get tickets as we thought that hardly any would be released and they would be sold to the big companies for the most amount of money. We thought the whole thing was being orchestrated to make the most amount of money possible.

But all four of us had been to Vegas before and we always said that if we were to go again then it would have to be for a big event or fight like this, so we thought it was worth going even if we didn't get a ticket.

One of my friends in the group had been in Vegas for both Ricky Hatton vs Floyd Mayweather and Hatton vs Manny Pacquiao.

He said it would be insane and that we had to go.

Then it was announced last week that a limited number of tickets would go on sale at 8pm on Thursday night.

We all agreed to try and get tickets. But my problem was I going to fit camp with my mum on Thursdays and it was the last one, and if I didn't go then she wouldn't go, and I am trying to encourage her. So we went to the gym and I was looking at the clock the whole time.

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The Bellagio hotel 

We did the session and the warm-down and at 7.55pm I sprinted out of the gym and into the car and was trying to get online while in the car. We drove to my mum's house and by the time I got there it was 8.09pm and I got the laptop out and went on to the Ticketmaster website.

I put in for four tickets. None available. I tried three. None available. Two and then one, same thing. I kept trying and trying and was changing the price bracket and number of tickets and then at 8.15pm I got through and it said on the screen that I had one ticket. I was stunned. It was $7,924.40 (£5,141.68)

But I realised I was on my business partner's laptop and it did not have all my credit card details saved as mine does.

So I had to sprint out of the house to my car to try and find my card and race back, by the time I got back to the laptop and put in my details there was about 45 seconds left on the countdown timer.

In panic when I was filling everything in I clicked the box for insurance and ended up paying an extra $455. I'm not even sure what it is insurance for!

Then it was all confirmed and I thought it was all too easy, and had I really managed to get a ticket? Or was it a scam and had I been turned over for just over £5,000? But then an email came through from Ticketmaster and I could not believe I had managed to get one.

I then went on to our group WhatsApp group and just wrote 'I got a ticket' and the phone just went mad with messages asking to see a screen shot. And when I sent it everyone just went mad, no one could believe it.

My business partner, Neil, has been on Twitter and he thinks he may have tracked down a ticket in the row behind me and the person may be willing to sell it, so we may possibly have two tickets. We will see.

We flew out from Gatwick on Wednesday and we're staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel just down the Strip from the MGM Grand.

After a 'quiet' night on Wednesday, we are going on a road trip to LA and the Hollywood Hills. We are spending one night there and then coming back to Vegas on Friday via the sights of Death Valley and the Nevada desert.

We'll have a big night out on Friday and then chill out on Saturday at the Wet Republic Pool Party at the MGM hosted by DJ Calvin Harris. And then it is fight night!

I have been to big events in the past, I was at Carl Froch vs George Groves at Wembley and we had good seats for that.

We saw people from The Only Way Is Essex, Gordon Ramsey and Andros Townsend. But Vegas is going to be the REAL A-list.

I have had some good trips in the past as well, a friend of mine is Richard Branson's PA and she invited me to his island a few years ago, so I've spent a few days chilling out there, it was insane. I never thought that holiday would be topped.

But already this trip promises to be amazing, the atmosphere in Vegas will be amazing ahead of the fight, everyone will be buzzing.

In terms of the fight, I would like to see Manny Pacquiao win. He has not got anything to lose. Mayweather is flash and that is liked in America, but around the world the whole money thing is not liked as much. Either way I hope it is a great fight and a great occasion.