Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will finally face off on Saturday night in a bout that boxing fans have wanted to see for the best part of the last decade. The May 2 fight takes place from Las Vegas with the doors at the venue opening at 2 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET, 10 p.m. BST).
A number of undercards are lined up for the massive event, and the day's boxing will get started at 3 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET, 11 p.m. BST). The main event of Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather will not get started until five hours later, at a scheduled local time of 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET, 4 a.m. BST).
In the UK the fight will be available to watch on PPV on Sky Sports for a price of GBP 19.95 via a Sky TV remote, or online or by the phone (although boxing fans will want to note that if you book from midnight Friday to 7 a.m. Sunday the price for phone bookings will be GBP 5 more expensive). In addition, TalkTalk customers in the UK can watch the fight for GBP 14.95 on TalkTalk TV on Channel 528, or Sky Sports Box Office.
In the United States meanwhile, promoters, organizers, and cable PPV networks have been battling tooth and nail to make sure the lucrative boxing match is not streamed online for free. Fans will have to pay out a massive $89-$100 to watch the fight on HBO or Showtime PPV.
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Judge George Wu granted premium cable companies a temporary restraining order to ensure that there will be no free live streams of the fight.
Federal Judge Wu stated in handing down his order: "This temporary restraining order is issued and effective as of 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time on April 30, 2015 and will expire at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time on May 7, 2015."
Sites such as boxinghd.net and sportship.org have already taken down their offers of free streaming of the Pacquiao vs Mayweather fight, and the order should ensure that sites will not be able to throw up a quick link on the night of the fight.
Judge Wu further stated: "Plaintiffs have established that they will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of immediate relief. Among other things, Defendants' threatened infringement would strip Plaintiffs of the critical right of first transmission and publication of an extremely valuable live sporting event, would interfere with Plaintiffs' relationships with third parties, is likely to damage Plaintiffs' goodwill among consumers, and will deprive Plaintiffs of revenue that will be difficult or impossible to calculate, but is likely far in excess of any amount that Defendants could repay to Plaintiffs in damages even if the amount could be calculated."
Whether the order will successfully block free streaming sites showing the fight remains to be seen.
The huge fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will take place on Saturday night with a bout start time set for 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. local, 4 a.m BST). The fight can be watched on TV on HBO or Showtime PPV, or online through Showtime PPV by clicking here.
Watch the full weigh-in video below:
Watch the HBO countdown to the match here:
