LAS VEGAS (March 11, 2013)…Boxing’s mega-star, undefeated, Eight-Time, Five-Division and current WBC Welterweight World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather will return to the ring on Saturday, May 4 to defend his title against Six-Time and Four-Division World Champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero in “MAYDAY: MAYWEATHER VS. GUERRERO” in a Cinco de Mayo boxing weekend blockbuster. The championship showdown will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. live onSHOWTIME PPV®.
Sharing the card, on what will be boxing’s biggest night of 2013, will be an explosive match-up featuring WBC Featherweight World Champion Daniel Ponce de Leon making his first title defense against Two-Division World Champion Abner Mares.
“MAYDAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero,” a 12-round fight for Mayweather’s WBC Welterweight World Championship is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona, AT&T and O’Reilly Auto Parts. The mega-event will take place Saturday, May 4 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. Also featured will be Daniel Ponce de Leon vs. Abner Mares, a 12-round fight for Ponce de Leon’s WBC Featherweight World Championship.
Tickets for “MAYDAY: Mayweather vs. Guerrero” priced at $1,500, $1,250, $800, $600, $300 and $200, not including applicable service charges, go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12 at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT. There will be a total ticket limit of 12 per person with a limit of 10 per person at the $1,500, $1,250, $800, $600 and $300 price levels and limit of two per person at the $200 price level. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets will also be available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
Mayweather, who recently announced a unique, groundbreaking revenue-sharing arrangement with Showtime Networks Inc. and its parent company, CBS Corporation, is excited to get back to business in his ring return against Guerrero.
“My new deal with Showtime and its parent CBS is very thrilling for me and a motivation to fight more often starting with my May 4 fight against Robert Guerrero,” said Mayweather. “I know Guerrero has been campaigning to fight me for quite a while now and I am happy to give him his opportunity. His name is mentioned among the other great champions in boxing today and that means he has proven himself in the ring. He will now have to prove himself against me, which is a whole other story. I’m excited for the challenge and fully expect a good, tough fight from him. However, I do expect the same outcome for him as all of the others who have challenged me before…42 have tried, 42 have failed. He will be number 43.”
Guerrero, coming off of a sensational win against Andre Berto on November 24, 2012, further entrenching himself as a formidable and tested world champion, has called out Mayweather for over two years. He will now have the opportunity to dethrone the undefeated pound for pound king when they meet May 4.
“First, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the opportunities he has blessed me and my family with, said Guerrero. “All of the trials and tribulations that have occurred in my life have made me a better person as well as a better fighter and the results are undeniable. Nothing has ever come easy to me and that mental fortitude has prepared me to defeat the one fighter everyone perceives to be the pound for pound king in Floyd Mayweather. When we lock eyes across the ring on fight night he’s going to feel the presence of a man preordained for greatness. The time is now to show the world why I’m destined to dethrone Floyd and when I come out victorious on May 4th, the whole world will know I’m a man who willed his way to victory by putting God first in his life.”
“Floyd is a superstar in boxing and his record-breaking deal with Showtime and its parent CBS reinforces his role in the sport as the face and driving force behind boxing today,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO, Mayweather Promotions. “Robert Guerrero deserves this opportunity and I commend him for stepping up and feeling so confident against someone as talented as Floyd, but its Floyd’s night to return to the ring on this Cinco de Mayo boxing weekend and give fans another performance that makes him the champion he is today. Boxing and sports fans are in for the thrill of a lifetime on May 4 with such a great night of boxing talent and competition on display. There is so much to look forward to that evening.”
“I am extremely proud to help bring fight fans these match-ups with Mayweather vs. Guerrero and Ponce de Leon vs. Mares that feature amazing champions who perform at the highest level every time they step in the ring” said Richard Schaefer, CEO, Golden Boy Promotions. “The return of Floyd Mayweather is always exciting and Robert Guerrero, who has aggressively campaigned for this bout for over two years, will be in the fight of his life now that his dream has come true. Ponce de Leon vs. Mares is a highly competitive bout featuring two worthy champions that could stand on its own as a main event. This will be a great night of boxing on another tremendous Cinco de Mayo weekend and I expect the fans in the arena and the pay-per-view audience will enjoy and appreciate these championship mega-bouts in one night on what will be the biggest weekend for boxing this year.”
“Not only is Floyd Mayweather the undisputed number one draw in boxing, he is far and away the number one draw in all of pay-per-view,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “The fact that for his first fight under our new agreement, Floyd selected Robert Guerrero, a dangerous and talented fighter in the prime of his career, as his opponent, shows Floyd’s willingness to challenge himself and his strong commitment to staging the biggest and most exciting events in the sport. SHOWTIME PPV has a long history of staging many of the most significant pay-per-view events in history featuring boxing legends Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Julio Cesar Chavez. We are thrilled to add Floyd Mayweather to this amazing list.”
“Hosting Floyd Mayweather’s return to MGM Grand is a great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo weekend,” said Richard Sturm, president of Sports and Entertainment for MGM Resorts International. “We look forward to the championship fight in May and know both Mayweather and Robert Guerrero are true champions who will certainly bring an electric atmosphere to the fans inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena and those watching on Showtime PPV.”
“I will get into the ring with a warrior’s mentality and in a very positive frame of mind to assure that we have a great fight and obviously for me to come out victorious,” said Daniel Ponce de Leon. “This fight is very important for my career and I have every intention of staying the WBC Featherweight World Champion for a long time because even though I’m 32 years old, I feel like I’m 20 years old.”
“First of all I’d like to thank Ponce de Leon for giving me the opportunity to fight for his world title,” said Mares, who will attempt to write another chapter for himself in the history books by winning a world title in a third weight division. “Because I don’t like to waste opportunities, I have every confidence that come May 4, I will be the new WBC Featherweight World Champion. My dream was to become a world champion and I did it, not once, but twice, and now I have the chance to become a world champion a third time in a third weight division. I can’t wait to get in the ring.”
Undefeated Floyd “Money” Mayweather, (43-0, 26 KO’s), an eight-time world champion in five divisions, remains boxing’s biggest attraction, wowing crowds and generating massive pay-per-view numbers each time he steps into the ring. During Mayweather’s already extraordinary career, he has amassed wins over world champions such as Genaro Hernandez, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Arturo Gatti,Zab Judah, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz and, most recently, then WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Miguel Cotto, marking the 43rd win of his storied career. Over the course of his participation in pay-per-view events Mayweather has generated 9.6 million buys and $543 million in revenue. He averages more than 1 million pay-per-view buys per event which is the highest pay-per-view buy average of any boxer in history. Mayweather has appeared in the four biggest non-heavyweight pay-per-view events in the sport’s history, bringing boxing excellence and a tremendous amount of excitement to his worldwide fan-base each time he fights.
The pride of Gilroy, California, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) is a Six-Time and Four-Division World Champion who got the attention of the boxing world when he defeated former Two-Time World Champion Andre Berto in November 2012 in thrilling fashion. The exciting 12-round unanimous decision further gave Guerrero the confidence to step up and face Mayweather. Now the 29-year-old southpaw has the chance of a lifetime as he prepares to step into the ring with one of the sport’s all-time greatest fighters. With wins over former World Champions Joel Casamayor and Michael Katsidis and former world title challenger Vicente Escobedo, Guerrero is ready to shine on an international stage in his pay-per-view main event debut. Not only a star in the ring, he is also an inspiring young man out of the ring who notably gave up his junior lightweight crown in early 2010 to care for his then ill wife, Casey who has since fully recovered from her battle with leukemia.
A 2000 Olympian, Cuauhtemoc Chihuahua, Mexico’s Daniel Ponce de Leon (44-4, 35 KO’s) found even greater success as a professional, having won world titles in the junior featherweight and featherweight divisions while establishing himself as a popular knockout artist with fans around the globe. In 2005, he won the vacant WBO title at 122 pounds with a 12-round unanimous decision win over then unbeaten Sod Looknongyangtoy and then went on to defend his belt six times before losing it to Juan Manuel Lopez in 2008. Undeterred by the defeat, he went on to win seven straight before a controversial loss to current Lightweight World Champion Adrien Broner and a setback against Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2011. Since those bouts, the 32-year-old southpaw is 3-0, including a September 2012 win over countryman and then WBC Featherweight World Champion Jhonny Gonzalez making him a two-time world champion. He will defend his new title for the first time against Mares this May.
One of the newest members of boxing’s pound-for-pound best list, Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13 KO’s) has proven himself the hard way since turning pro in 2005 after representing Mexico in the 2004 Olympics. In 2010, the Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico native, who now fights out of Hawaiian Gardens, California, began making his mark on the international boxing scene with a draw against Yonnhy Perez in 2010 and a win over Vic Darchinyan in 2011, setting the stage for him to win his first world title in 2011 when he defeated Joseph Agbeko for the IBF Bantamweight World Championship. After defending his title against Agbeko in a rematch later that year, Mares moved up to 122 pounds in 2012 and beat Eric Morel for the vacant WBC Super Bantamweight belt. In his most recent fight, the 27-year-old Mares made a major statement with his exciting win over WBA Bantamweight Super World Champion Anselmo Moreno last November. Now, he’s eager to show the boxing world how good he is once again on May 4 when he attempts to win his third world title in a third weight division.
