Mayweather vs Canelo: Richard Schaefer says celebrity ticket requests unprecedented

Richard Schaefer tells BoxingScene.com that requests by celebrities to secure seats for the September 14 pay-per-view fight between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez are overwhelming, and that he's never dealt with this sort of demand before.

Schaefer also says that this isn't Will Smith and Jay-Z and Dana Carvey and Robert Forster and Gabourey Sidibe and Goldie Hawn just asking for a hand-out to make an appearance at ringside, this is celebrities wanting to actually buy tickets:

"I've never, ever seen the kind of buzz for any fight that we've done, and we were involved in the biggest fight of the last ten years. I can't remember any fight where there was this kind of hype. ... The celebrity requests are unreal. Another indication on when you have a big fight is when celebrities call and they don't ask for comps - they want to buy tickets. You have A-list celebrities from music, sports and entertainment [calling and asking to buy tickets] and I can't accommodate all of them. It's impossible."

This is definitely going to be the biggest fight we've seen since De La Hoya-Mayweather in 2007, as it's the first time Mayweather, the A-side, has taken on an opponent who's really in demand to be across the ring, and has his own truly significant fan base. The date, too, will help, as it did when De La Hoya and Mayweather fought on Cinco De Mayo weekend.

We've already heard that the fight will set a new live gate record in Nevada, busting the Oscar-Floyd mark, and there still remains the outside chance it will sell more pay-per-views, but the fight is an underdog there. With the price hike, though, a new PPV revenue mark seems more likely to be set.

In summary, you could probably make a mint selling your tickets to Denzel Washington or Cheri Oteri.