The hype for Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is reaching an unreasonable level.
It's difficult to quantify "hype"—although the mere fact it is being called "The One" should tell you just about everything you need to know in that regard—but if there's a number that's going to do so, it's the live gate value, which, according The Ring magazine's Twitter feed, hit a record high:
With the MGM Grand in Las Vegas able to hold 16,800 people, that puts the average ticket price somewhere in the range of just under $1,200 (H/T Bleacher Report's Tyler Conway).
That being the outlandish number it is, Mayweather being set to receive a $41 million check on Saturday and this being dubbed the "Super Bowl of Combat Sports," an argument can be made that we've never seen a fight as hyped as this one.
But it's justified.
This is a matchup that is being christened as "Offense vs. Defense," but if you take a closer look at the stats, you might just want to call it "Complete Package vs. Complete Package."
Let's start with the punch connect percentage. You'd assume that Canelo, who is praised for his ability to demolish opponents—30 knockouts in 43 fights—is at the top of the list, and in this case, your assumption would be spot on. According to Compubox, the 23-year-old Mexican is first among all boxers, landing a ridiculous 42 percent of all his punches.
But who comes in second on that list? Yep, it's Mayweather, the guy renowned for his defensive abilities, at 41 percent.
Perhaps even more compelling is the challenger's ability to land the big blow. Mayweather is one of the most elusive fighters ever, and trying to pick him apart is a fool's errand that will get you a notch in the loss column 100 percent of the time. If he is ever going to lose, it's going to come on a power shot finding its way through the brick wall.
Well, Mayweather has never fought someone who is quite as machine-like in that area as Canelo, who is first in the world, landing 52 percent of his power punches.
Of course, Money isn't far behind in that category, either, sitting at 48 percent.
Clearly, though, it starts with being unhittable for Money. In his last 10 fights, via Compubox, he has allowed opponents to connect on just 17 percent of their punches (second only to Guillermo Rigondeaux at 16 percent) and a mere seven total punches per round.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayweather is untouchable. We all know that.
But what's slightly surprising is that Canelo comes in at ninth on that list, allowing opponents to hit on just 24 percent of their attempted punches.
Numbers don't tell the entire story, but in this case, they give you a good idea of just how transcendent each fighter has been.
You've got two guys who have never lost, are No. 1 and 2 in the world in "Plus/Minus" (overall connect percentage minus opponent's connect percentage) and match up together perfectly.
This is a fight that, according to Golden Boy's Richard Shaefer, via Bleacher Report's Jonathan Snowden, could bring in over $1 billion (yes, that's with a "b") in total revenue.
That's a truly shocking figure, but perhaps what's even more shocking is that the rest of the numbers suggest the fight is worth it.
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