Decision not unanimous

No one knows how Saturday’s megafight at the MGM Grand Garden between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will turn out inside the ring.

Outside, it has been a record-setter in terms of live gate as ticket sales have approached $19 million, eclipsing the mark of $16,660,300 set in 1999 when Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis met. So it has achieved megafight status before the opening bell has sounded.

Where it ultimately will rank in the pantheon of megafights remains to be seen. But there is no shortage of fights from which to choose when seeking the answer as to what fight stands out above all others.

Getting consensus isn’t easy. But several boxing experts point to the night of Sept. 16, 1981, when Sugar Ray Leonard rallied to defeat Thomas Hearns for the world welterweight championship.

That fight wasn’t the largest attended in Las Vegas history as 23,306 made their way into the outdoor arena at Caesars Palace, nor was it the largest live gate as the gross ticket sales amounted to $4,865,150.

But in terms of hype, performance and historical perspective, Leonard-Hearns I is on everyone’s list.

"It was a huge thing around the country," veteran boxing writer and author Tim Dahlberg said. "It attracted celebrities. It attracted people from middle America. The setting was spectacular — outdoors at Caesars — and the best thing was the fight not only lived up to the hype, it surpassed it."

Boxing writer and historian Bert Sugar has Leonard-Hearns I at the top of his list.

"The ballyhoo worked. The promotion worked," Sugar said. "Both fighters acquitted themselves admirably."

Al Bernstein, Showtime Boxing’s analyst, said Leonard-Hearns I and Leonard vs. Marvin Hagler are his two favorite Las Vegas megafights.

"I didn’t work the first Leonard-Hearns fight, but it was a classic," Bernstein said. "Hagler-Leonard — that was monstrous.

"That one had everything you can ask for."

For Dave Cokin, the 1985 epic battle between Hagler and Hearns at Caesars tops his list.

"It’s the best fight I ever saw," said Cokin, a radio talk show host. "I don’t care if it lasted only three rounds. The buildup was tremendous, and the action inside the ring that night was amazing."

Marc Ratner, a former executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said while the Leonard-Hearns-Hagler trio produced special moments, he cast his vote for Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney as Las Vegas’ biggest megafight. The fight took place June 11, 1982, at Caesars Palace.

"It had a lot of elements working for it," Ratner said of the fight, which holds the record for largest attendance for a fight in Las Vegas at 29,214.

"It had racial overtones with Cooney being promoted as the Great White Hope," Ratner said. "You had people who weren’t boxing fans interested in the fight. There was that palpable buzz that you see in all megafights.

"But the first true megafight in my mind was the first Leonard-Hearns fight in 1981. You had two guys in their prime. It’s outside at Caesars Palace. There’s celebrities everywhere. You knew you were at more than just a fight. It was an event."