How Much Would Dan Auerbach Pay for a Ticket to Mayweather vs. Pacquiao?
The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach picked the perfect date to premiere the first bit of “boxing-related” music from his new band, the Arcs: May 2, unofficially known the world over as “Mayweather-Pacquiao Day.”
Hours before the two foes step inside the ring to settle their long-simmering feud (at least until the inevitable rematch), Auerbach will release a 7-inch featuring a pair of pugilistic songs: “Stay in My Corner” and “Tomato Can.” It’s not exactly a surprise – Auerbach is an avid boxing fan, and regularly spars in his garage – but his plans for fight night are. Despite the Keys’ success, he won’t be rubbing elbows at ringside. Instead, he’ll be watching from home.
“When I heard the fight was going to happen, I had someone that works at one of the promotion companies tip me off and I quickly bought two suites at the MGM Grand hotel,” he says. “Sure enough, the next week they announced the fight and the hotel was booked solid. But I had two rooms and I’m like, ‘Fuck yes, I’m going to get these tickets, right?’
“Then I start hearing rumors about how much the tickets are going to be – and sure enough, it’s like $15,000 a ticket, and on top of that you won’t know where your seats are until you get there,” he continues. “So I was just like, ‘No. This fight means too much to me, I don’t want to get caught up in the bullshit, I want to watch it on TV and really enjoy it.'”
So take solace in the fact that a dude who won Producer of the Year at the Grammys thought $15,000 was too much to pay for the “Fight of the Century“, too. And while you might agree with that decision, you probably won’t like his prediction for the fight itself.
“You know what? I don’t think it matters who wins. I think because they fought, it’s a real gift that they gave to boxing. It’s like, they didn’t have to,” Auerbach says. “Floyd Mayweather didn’t have to do this fight, but he did. And I commend him for it – I really think that was a brave move, because he’s never fought anyone like Manny and Manny’s never fought anyone like Floyd, so it’s really exciting. It’s exciting for the sport.”
Just not, like $15,000 exciting.
Reporting by Patrick Doyle