Cowboys' home stadium may host Pacquiao-Mayweather bout

Dubai: The new Dallas Cowboys baseball stadium in Texas is being considered as the venue for professional boxing's much-awaited fight between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and former world's best pound-for-pound fighter, Floyd Mayweather Jr in March.

With both fighters being the biggest draws in boxing Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports, believes the bout deserves a Super Bowl-type venue.

Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum supported the idea.

"We don't want to do an official announcement until we know where the fight's going to be held," Arum said. "That's what we're exploring this week.

"Tomorrow (,Wednesday) we'll be in Dallas visiting with (NFL Dallas Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones at Cowboys Stadium and hopefully by Monday of next week we'll have a venue and a deal in place.

"I know that Jerry Jones has really worked on the possibility and that's why we're meeting with him tomorrow."

Largest domed stadium

The new $1.3 billion (Dh4.77 billion) Cowboys Stadium seats about 73,000 but is expandable to hold up to 111,000.

The stadium is the largest domed stadium in the world and has the world's largest column-free interior and the largest high definition video screen.

The facility, which was completed last May, was designed for a variety of other activities outside of its main purpose (professional football) such as concerts, religious ceremonies, basketball games, college football and high school football contests, soccer matches, Motocross races and rodeos.

Arum said there were also other contenders to host the bout. "There's the MGM in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, that is the only possibility because the outdoor stadium will not work in March," he said. "We have heard but haven't really explored the [Louisiana] Superdome in New Orleans and the Georgia Dome in Atlanta."