You might have heard that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have signed to fight May 2 in Las Vegas. It could be the year’s biggest sporting event. Here’s the cheat sheet.

Who is Floyd Mayweather?

Floyd Mayweather during his most recent fight, an easy victory over Marcos Maidana (Stephanie Trapp, Mayweather Productions)

Floyd Mayweather, 37, is boxing’s biggest and best paid star, and is widely regarded as the best boxer in the world. He’s a welterweight (147 lb/66.7 kg), though he sometimes fights in the next division up, junior middleweight (154 lb/69.8 kg). Basically he’s a small regular-sized dude. His record is 47 wins, 26 of them by way of knockout, with no losses and no draws. To say that Mayweather makes a big deal of his undefeated status would be an understatement.

Mayweather is not a very likable dude, and has served time in prison for beating up the mother of his children in front of them (just one of a string of domestic violence incidents he’s been involved in). Earlier this month Australia denied him a visa on the grounds of his (lack of) character.

Mayweather was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He’s the son of Floyd Mayweather Sr., who was a welterweight contender in the 1970s and ‘80s. Though Floyd Sr. made a lot of money from his boxing career, Floyd Jr. had a rough childhood. Floyd Jr.’s father sold drugs, beat him up and spent time in prison. His mother was a drug addict and he often went hungry.

Mayweather after his controversial loss in the semifinals at the Atlanta Olympics.

The young Mayweather was never in any doubt as to what he’d be when he grew up. After compiling an impressive record in amateur boxing (where many boxers learn their craft wearing face protection and larger gloves) and winning a Bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics (the Olympics are only for amateurs), he turned professional in 1996.

Like most young prospects, Mayweather started his career by beating a string of no-hopers before moving on to journeymen and eventually contenders. He won his first legitimate, or lineal, title (more on that later) at junior lightweight (130 lb/58.9 kg) and, like most boxers, has moved up in weight as he’s gotten older.

Though he’d been an elite boxer for nearly a decade, Mayweather’s career truly took off in 2007 after he defeated Oscar De La Hoya and took his mantle as boxing’s biggest star. He has often been criticised, however, for not fighting the toughest available competition.

Around the time he beat De La Hoya, Mayweather changed his nickname from “Pretty Boy” — a tribute to his unmarked face and gleaming smile — to the less imaginative “Money” — a tribute to the fact that he really likes money. The move was a reflection of a bigger “heel turn”: Mayweather went from being an all-American boy to being a loud, unsportsmanlike dick. A large part of his success can be put down to the fact that people will pay to see him fight in the hope that he’ll lose. And pay they do; Mayweather makes tens of millions per fight.

Style-wise, Mayweather is a defensive fighter who relies on his footwork, reflexes and ability to not get hit to win fights. He’s barely even been hurt in his 47 fights, though some say he’s become more vulnerable as he’s aged. Really, it’s strange he’s so popular, because he’s not that exciting to watch.

Though Mayweather often calls himself “the best ever” (TBE for short — you can buy a hat if that’s your thing), nobody with any knowledge of boxing history takes that claim seriously.

Who is Manny Pacquiao?

Pacquiao working out with his longtime companion and trainer Buboy Fernandez (HBO)

Manny Pacquiao, 36, is an unlikely idol who rose from absolute poverty in the Philippines to become one of the best boxers in the world. He’s the sport’s second biggest star (at least in terms of earnings) and a congressman, movie star, TV host and pop singer in his native land.

Like Mayweather, Pacquiao fights at welterweight, though he’s naturally a smaller man and often comes in underweight. His record is 57 wins, 38 of them via knockout, five losses, three of them by knockout, and two draws.

Pacquiao’s happy-go-lucky attitude, exciting style and improbable rise from obscurity have made him a fan favourite around the world (and a God in his home country). You can probably tell already that there’s an obvious good guy vs. bad guy dynamic in this fight.

Pacquiao was born in Kibawe, a town of 35,000 in the southern Philippines. One of six children, Pacquiao left school after grade six to help provide for his family. After leaving home at 14, he picked up boxing while he was living on the streets of Manila. When he turned professional at 16 (a move which would have obviously been illegal in the USA), Pacquiao stood just 4'11"/149 cm and weighed 98 lb/44.5 kg (seven pounds below the limit of strawweight, boxing’s smallest weight division).

Despite a few early losses, the story of Pacquiao’s career has been a barnstorming climb through the weight classes. One of his nicknames is “The Mexecutioner”, a moniker he earned for defeating a string of fearsome Mexican champions at junior featherweight, featherweight and junior lightweight in the middle of last decade.

Like Mayweather, Pacquiao truly arrived as a star after beating Oscar De La Hoya. Few experts gave him any chance to win against the much larger American in 2008, but Pacquiao dominated, forcing De La Hoya to quit on his stool. “The Golden Boy” never fought again.

Pacquiao has a nemesis, though: Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez. The pair fought four times, with little to split them until Marquez knocked Pacquiao out cold in 2012. Many wondered whether Pacquiao could recover, but he’s recorded three wins since, including a victory over elite welterweight Timothy Bradley.

“Pacman” has always been an offensive whirlwind, but since linking up with trainer Freddie Roach in the early 2000s he has been transformed. From being a guy with an with an insanely powerful left hand and not much else, he has become a technical master. A southpaw (or left-hander, for those of you who don’t speak the lingo), Pacquiao darts in and out of range, stinging his opponents with rapid-fire combinations. He’s breathtaking to behold.

The two main criticisms of Pacquiao are that he’s “too nice” and “too distracted”.

He certainly is nice (the several-hundred strong entourage that survives on his generosity can attest to that). A born-again Christian, Pacquiao has let several recent opponents off the hook when he could have gone for the knockout.

As for the distraction thing; Pacquiao is a congressman, a coach and player in the Filipino basketball league, an honorary Master Sergeant in his country’s army and God only knows what else. Obviously, the guy can multitask.

Why is the fight important — is it for a world championship?

Mayweather and Pacquiao will fight for various WBC, WBO and WBA “world titles”. Ignore that. World titles don’t matter.

So many belts, so little meaning.

The World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Organisation, the World Boxing Association and any number of other bodies are for-profit entities that boxers pay to sanction fights. More world titles mean more money for these “alphabet gang” organisations, so there are more than a hundred so-called “champions” split between boxing’s 17 weight divisions.

There are real champions, though. Boxing fans call them the lineal champions — they beat the last lineal champion, who beat the last lineal champion, who beat the last lineal champion, and so on, all the way back to the introduction of the Queensberry Rules (the modern rules of gloved boxing) in the 19th century, or at least back to when there was only one champion in each weight division.

There’s an organisation (disclaimer: I’m a member) called the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board that keeps track of the lineal champions and ranks contenders from around the world.

The lineal championship is vacant at welterweight, the division Pacquiao and Mayweather fight at, so a fight between the #1 and #2 contenders (you guessed it, Manny and Floyd) will crown a new champion.

All that aside, though, the fight is important because it’s between two of the best boxers in the world (some would say the two best boxers in the world). We want to see it, and that makes it important.

I heard someone say that the fight is happening five (or seven) years too late, is that true?

It depends what you mean. Yes, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao became the most desirable fight in boxing in late 2008. Yes, it would have been better then because both men were younger and in their prime. Yes, Pacquiao has been knocked out since then and Mayweather may have slowed down. That’s all true…

BUT

Mayweather and Pacquiao are still the two best welterweights in the world. They’re still two of the best fighters in boxing at any weight. Pacquiao’s lightning fast, two handed assault still makes for an interesting style contrast with Mayweather’s sublime defensive boxing.

So if you want to try to impress your friends by being the negative guy, be my guest. I’ll be enjoying it the fight.

Why haven’t they fought before now?

Mayweather and Pacquiao haven’t fought yet because nobody could make them. Unlike other sports, boxing does without bells and whistles like “a governing body”, “rules” or “basic decency”. Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon famously dubbed it “the red light district of sports”, but really boxing is “the bleak libertarian dystopia of sports”.

Even when they want to, the aforementioned sanctioning bodies have little power to compel fighters to fight one another. In that vacuum, fighters are left to organise the fights between each other. If a boxer doesn’t want to fight another boxer, they don’t have to.

If a boxer wants to come out and say that their opponent is on performance enhancing drugs and demand advanced testing (like Mayweather did to Pacquiao in 2009), he can. If a boxer wants to get offended and refuse said testing (like Pacquiao did in response), he can.

If a boxer doesn’t like his prospective opponent’s promoter he can just flat out refuse to deal with him (as Mayweather did with Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, for a long time).

If a boxer is scared of another boxer, he can make up a bunch of weird excuses or demand an unreasonable share of the proceeds from the fight (as many believe Mayweather has done until now).

There were also a bunch of other issues. Because of the lack of central control in boxing, nobody owns the broadcast rights, as is the case in other sports. Promoters (who usually represent a group or “stable” of boxers), negotiate separate arrangements with TV networks. Mayweather has an exclusive deal with Showtime, while Pacquiao fights on rival network HBO. The split between networks also reflects a split between promoters. While Mayweather says he works for himself, he’s “advised” by evil genius Al Haymon. Haymon doesn’t do business with Pacquiao’s promoter, Top Rank. It’s all very high school.

So why has it finally happened?

Only Mayweather, Pacquiao and their advisers know that. Both men have more or less run out of other legitimate opponents, but that’s been the case for a while. The fight represents the most money either man could make, but again, that’s been the case since 2008–2009. Neither man is getting any younger — but then, neither is anyone.

Pacquiao and Mayweather meet in Miami, January 27.

For whatever reason, late last year Pacquiao began to push very hard for the fight and expressed a willingness to make financial concessions to Mayweather.

The big break may have come when the fighters bumped into each other at Miami Heat game in January and later spoke in Mayweather’s hotel room. According to Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza, that chance meeting (Pacquiao’s planned flight to New York had been delayed) was crucial and “cleared up a lot of doubts in both of their minds.”

The TV networks know a good (and profitable) thing when they see one, and will work together on a co-production (they did so once before, for another massive bout, Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson in 2002).

Michael Buffer (“let’s get ready to rumble”) and Jimmy Lennon Jr. (“it’s Showtime”) will share ring announcing duties, if you were curious.

How much will the fighters make?

Mayweather is reportedly guaranteed $120 million and Pacquiao $80 million. That money comes from ticket sales, sponsorships, the multi-million dollar fee paid by the MGM Grand casino to host the fight and the television revenue.

They don’t call him “Money” for nothing.

Why the discrepancy between the guarantees? Well, in the past more people have bought Mayweather’s fights than Pacquiao’s fights. That makes Mayweather the “A-side”, even though they’re both superstars. Pacquiao’s team was willing to make that concession, and fair enough I guess, $80 million dollars buys a lot of pork adobo.

Both men will likely make more than the amount they’ve been guaranteed, though. We don’t know the specifics of the deal, but both fighters will get a percentage of the amount of money generated by American households buying the fight on pay-per-view (after a certain baseline number of “PPV buys” has been met).

It’s likely more than two million people will buy the fight, so we’re talking about a lot of money. Additionally, Mayweather and Pacquiao will earn a percentage of the money the fight generates internationally, plus whatever endorsements they can sort out.

Where will the fight take place, where can I watch it and how much will it cost?

The fight will take place at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas, a long-time boxing venue that has been Mayweather’s “home ground” for years (Pacquiao has also fought there a lot).

If you want a ticket to see it live: good luck. Few, if any, tickets will be released to the public, and those that are will cost many thousands of dollars. The rest will go to the fighters’ entourages, celebrities, high rolling gamblers and other non-deserving types.

The MGM has been a major boxing venue for decades.

Thankfully, the fight will almost certainly be shown in movie theatres both in the casino and around the USA. If actually leaving the house isn't your thing, though, you’ll have to buy the pay-per-view through your cable provider.

Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but expect to pay close to $100 (yes, one hundred dollars) if you live in the USA. In other countries it may be cheaper; in Australia we’ll likely be looking at $50. If you’re in the Philippines you probably don’t need to worry; it’ll be showing anywhere and everywhere (Manila’s crime rate plummets when Pacquiao fights).

What will the rules of the fight be?

If one guy knocks the other guy to the floor and he can’t get up in 10 seconds, that’s a knockout, or KO. If he gets up before the count of 10, that’s a knockdown (and he loses a point — more on scoring later).

A technical knockout, or TKO, covers a whole bunch of other ways a fight could be ended by the referee, the fight doctor or the corner of one of the each fighter.

Assuming none of those dramatic things happen, Pacquiao and Mayweather will fight 12 three-minute rounds with a break of one minute between each round before the fight “goes to the scorecards.”

Pacquiao flaws Marquez during their second fight.

Warning: boxing scoring is confusing as hell. When I first saw a fight and the score was 116–112, I thought that the winner had hit the loser four more times than the loser had hit him. Let me tell you, though, that is not the way it works.

Tim Starks has written the clearest explanation of boxing scoring I’ve seen so far: “Fights are scored by what is called the ‘10-point must system,’ where rounds are evaluated by a panel of three judges who make their determination of which boxer got the better of each round. They make their determination based on clean punching, effective aggressiveness, which fighter was in control and, sometimes, defense, although some judges favor some of those criteria more than others.”

It’s called the ‘10-point must system’ because the winner of each round gets 10 points, while the loser gets fewer points — usually nine.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has a set of rules that cover the other, more finicky aspects of headpunching. They have a list of approved gloves, for example, and they make sure that all bouts take place in a ring that measures 20 x 20 feet. There are other rules, though boxing is still basically two dudes punching each other in the head.

Who will win?

Betting shops have Mayweather as a three-to-one favourite, but expect that to narrow before fight night. Really it’s anyone’s guess, but that’s why they fight the fights. (I’m really excited).

This boxing caper is interesting, where can I find out more?

The boxing blog I write for, The Queensberry Rules, is a good place to start. We were named one of Time Magazine’s best blogs (on any subject) a few years ago, and we’re quoted fairly regularly in The New Yorker, The Wall St Journal and other publications you might have heard of. We also have a podcast.

You can keep up with the larger stories and get fight wrap-ups on ESPN. Bad Left Hook is even better, since it’s updated more regularly, is more in depth and is written with a sense of humour. The Guardian is great for British boxing (I have to say that, I write for them) and so is The Telegraph. I don’t think the Boxingscene website has changed since 1995, but they’re the best site on the web for a pure boxing news hit and they have some great columnists like David Greisman.

Grantland does great boxing coverage, often focusing on the weird and funny side of the sport. Gorilla Productions does great promo and highlights videos.The HBO boxing podcast with Eric Raskin and Kieran Mulvaney is quite good if you’re more of an audio fan. Or just hit me up on Twitter and I’ll give you some recommendations.