Pacman bout ringside tickets cost P25,000, bleacher P1,000

Die-hard Manny Pacquiao fans will have to spend as much as P25,000 for a ringside ticket to the Filipino boxing icon’s 12-round bout with Mexico’s Oscar Larios on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.

According to Jo Ramos, one of Pacquiao’s consultants, ticket prices for the forthcoming bout will be determined by the Manny Pacquiao Promotions and ABS-CBN which owns the broadcast rights.

Ramos said a research was made on how the tickets should be priced. While there’s nothing final yet, ringside tickets could cost as much as P25,000 and bleacher section would go for P1,000.

There are also plans to sell few $1,000 tickets.

Ramos said organizers of the highly awaited Pacquiao fight plan to sell around 17,000 tickets. The Araneta Coliseum has hosted a couple of big fights in the past, including one featuring the legendary Gabriel "Flash" Elorde against Harold Gomes in 1961, the year the Big Dome was inaugurated.

The "Thrilla in Manila" of 1975, featuring heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, was also held at the Big Dome, which could house as much as 20,000 people.

The Pacquiao-Larios fight, scheduled for 12-rounds at 130 lbs, is expected to match or even surpass the crowd attendance in the two previous blockbuster bouts.

Ramos said with Pacquiao’s tremendous following here and abroad, organizers shouldn’t have problems selling the tickets.

"The easiest to sell of course would be those priced at P25,000 because it’s the place to be seen. Then the second easiest ticket to sell would be those for the bleacher section at P1,000 each," he said.

"The hardest to sell would be those in the middle.

Because if I’m willing to buy a ticket for P15,000, I might think twice and later on decide to go for the P25,000 instead. So it’s the mid-section that may have some space."

Pacquiao has put up his own promotions firm and from now on will promote his own fights, starting with this one. Up next is his third match with Erik Morales by year’s end, then a rematch with WBC champion Marco Antonio Barrera sometime next year.

Pacquiao has fought his last three fights in the US, two of them against Morales in Las Vegas. Tickets for these fights cost as much as $400 to $500, and a whole lot more when it reaches the black market.