After landing at JFK airport in New York last week, the immigration officer asked me: “What is the purpose of your visit to the United States, sir?” I responded: “I am traveling to the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in Vegas.”
The immigration officer engaged me in a 10-minute conversation about the fight. He already had bought his pay-per-view package. His pick? Manny Pacquiao. Why? He said: “All Manny wanted for five years was this fight!”
Everyone from Al Ain to New York to Las Vegas is talking about this fight. Such colossal buzz for a boxing match was last experienced, when? For Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden in 1971? Ali versus George Foreman for the Rumble in the Jungle of 1974?
After a couple of days in beautiful Manhattan, I still was wondering about how I would get a pass for the fight. At that minute I had no official passes whatsoever; I was flying all the way to the other side of the world on a hunch.
The public-relations people organising media credentials advised me a week before that only a select few media professionals would be given a pass for the fight and a smaller group would be given a pass for the Fight Week activities.
A friend of mine got me a ticket to the official weigh-in, so I was excited to be there and experience this once-in-a-lifetime event, the richest fight in the history of boxing. I was off to bed around 10.30pm as I had the morning flight to Vegas to catch. I got an email from the organisers that my Fight Week pass had been approved from 15,000-plus requests from around the globe!
A friend sent me a message on Twitter, offering me a ticket at the very back row of the MGM Grand for the fight. The damage? US$7,600 (Dh27,900)! I passed up the opportunity and he sold the ticket the next minute. That’s how much this fight is in demand!
I arrived in Las Vegas at 1.30pm on Tuesday after a delayed flight. Floyd Mayweather’s grand arrival at the MGM Grand was just less than 90 minutes away.
I managed to get into the MGM Grand by 2.30pm and the scene there was absolutely electric. The energy was palpable. I sat just behind Floyd Mayweather Sr, Floyd’s father and trainer. He was happy to take a picture with me and chat a bit about Dubai and his son.
I ran into Alex Ariza, Floyd’s fitness coach; Stephen Espinoza, executive vice president of Showtime Sports; former WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne; and J’Leon Love, a boxer signed to Mayweather Promotions. Even Bob Arum was hanging around at the media centre tent with four cameras following him. Everyone from the boxing world was there to see Mayweather arrive at the hotel.
The lights dimmed, the Southern University marching band started a march towards the stage, as if to indicate the president had arrived and, boy, did he arrive in style!
Floyd walked down the aisle with his “TMT” (The Money Team) entourage and went up on the stage. Flashing cameras followed him and the roar from the fans made the organs in my body vibrate. He briefly thanked his children, fans and the media for supporting him throughout his career.
After addressing the crowd, who packed the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the members of the international media were invited on stage in groups to have one-on-one interview sessions with the champ. Yes, I did get my chance after waiting over an hour.
While I was waiting on stage to interview Mayweather, I had a chat with former WBC lightweight and WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner, who was there to support his “big bro”, as he likes to call him.
We all will be back at MGM Grand on Wednesday for a media brunch and, Thursday, for the official pre-fight press conference featuring Mayweather and Pacquiao.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
FIXTURES (all times UAE)
Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)
Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Funchal via Lisbon, with a connecting flight with Air Portugal. Economy class returns cost from Dh3,845 return including taxes.
The trip
The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources. If you don’t fancy doing the trip yourself, then Explore offers an eight-day levada trails tour from Dh3,050, not including flights.
The hotel
There isn’t another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of the Belmond Reid's Palace in Funchal. Doubles from Dh1,400 per night including taxes.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
