The Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao welterweight unification megafight on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the United States (U.S.) is expected to shatter all revenue records in boxing history, including for most money generated by sponsors.
Todd duBoef, president of Top Rank, Pacquiao’s promoter, said that their contracts with five title sponsors will add a record $13.2 million to the bottom line of a fight expected to generate at least $400 million, with the vast majority of that money coming from the domestic pay-per-view revenue.
Exact records have not been kept, but the previous sponsorship record is believed to be the estimated $3.5 million to $4 million brought in by some past Mayweather bouts.
Lucia McKelvey, Top Rank’s executive vice president of marketing since 2011, made most of the sponsor deals. She also has served as Pacquiao’s individual deal agent since 2011.
“We killed it, we blew it out of the water,” said McKelvey, who worked with Bruce Binkow of Mayweather Promotions, co-promoter of the fight, on the sponsor deals.
The big one is the $5.6 million sponsorship from Tecate, the official beer of the fight. Tecate has sponsored Pacquiao fights and Top Rank events for several years. Its bid beat the $5.2 million bid from Corona, the beer company that has sponsored Mayweather’s recent fights.
The Tecate logo will be prominently featured on the center of the ring mat and adorn fight signage and posters, and the beer will be sold at the arena on fight night.

















