Hatton-Pacquiao sells out, Arum loses mind

Golden Boy put out a press release to let everyone know that the May 2 showdown between pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton is officially sold out -- there are zero tickets remaining for the fight. There will be many closed circuit screenings of the fight in Vegas for $50.

In the release, Bob Arum said the following: "Given that the live gate for this event is sold out, coupled with the sellout of tonight's San Francisco Giants baseball game where Manny is the guest of honor, indicates to me that 'The Battle of East and West' is on track to break all existing pay-per-view records."

Bob Arum is out of his damned mind if he thinks this thing is going to even approach the 2.4 million buys that Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. put up in 2007. We're in a horrendous economy for one thing (although this has never seemed to really dawn on Arum, to be fair), and for another thing, no offense to Ricky and Manny, but their two biggest fights put together don't equal what Oscar-Floyd did. Pacquiao's fight with Oscar did 1.25 million; Hatton's with Floyd did 900,000 in a much better economy. And again no offense, but Ricky Hatton is not Oscar de la Hoya.

It will do well. If they break a million everyone involved in the promotion should celebrate for a month. It's just that Vegas sellouts -- even now -- aren't exactly the greatest indicator that anything is about to crush all the record. A lot of those seats are taken up by high rollers and movie stars that barely care about the fight and just want to be part of the whole Big Thing.