Mexican icon Erik Morales arrived in the Philippines last night with wife Andrea in tow, upon the invitation of a Filipino friend.
According to a source, Morales and his wife touched down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport close to midnight, and were immediately whisked away to the Diamond Hotel where they spent the night.
Morales, wearing a cap upon arrival at 11:20 PM Saturday in Manila, was originally slated to fly in to do a commercial with Pacquiao and Freddie Roach for San Miguel Corporation, the biggest food and beverage company in the country.
Pacquiao, who is in Manila, is also staying in the same hotel.
According to the source, Morales was invited by some well-heeled Filipino friends whom he had met in Las Vegas, and the same friends are reportedly planning to bring Morales and wifey to the ultra-exclusive Amanpulo resort.
Situated on the private island of Pamalican, 200 km east of Palawan in the Philippines, the 220 acre isle is surrounded by white sand, crystal clear sea and well preserved coral reefs (50-300 m. offshore). Guests arrive from Manila by chartered plane which lands directly on Pamalican, according to a website.
The same source said that although Morales came to the country not for the San Miguel Beer commercial, chances are they just might as well shoot the ad if and when Morales finds the time.
“Everything is really being kept under wraps. They don’t want to pre-empt anything,” said the source.
BAUTISTA, GORRES U.S.-BOUND! Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista and Z ‘The Dream’ Gorres, together with trainer Edito Villamor, took an early morning flight to Manila today and will stay there overnight in preparation for their flight to Los Angeles tomorrow, where they plan to immediately hook up with renowned trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym.
Bautista and Gorres will start training in the US for the March 4 ‘World Cup’ to be held in Cebu, Philippines, where they challenge two WBO reigning champions.
The undefeated Bautista takes on WBO superbantam king Daniel Ponce De Leon, while Gorres goes up against WBO superfly champion Fernando Montiel.
Villamor, in an interview last night in Borbon, Cebu, indicated that his two wards are in high spirit for the tough training under Roach ahead of them, and are looking forward to their big opportunities on March 4 in the beatiful island of Cebu.
Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De la Hoya is expected to fly to Cebu sometime end of this month of early next to bring with him the $500,000 Cup, which will be awarded to the winning country in this Philippines versus Mexico duel. Mexico will defend the title after it defeated Thailand last year in the inaugural staging of the Boxing World Cup.
De la Hoya is expected to be accompanied to Cebu by GBP CEO Richard Schaefer and vice president Eric Gomez, as well as international matchmaker non-parallel Sampson Lewkowicz.
IceLink Watch, whose association with boxing began early last year when they entered into a sponsorship deal with middleweight world champion Bernard Hopkins, came up with the idea when evaluating further boxing sponsorship opportunities and realized, unlike other sports, boxing did not have any World Cup formatted events. This priceless, one-of-a-kind, 15-pound, 18-karat gold Cup is set with more 15,000 diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones.
“We are always trying to be creative and thought that our presence in boxing would be stronger if we came up with something original” said Andy Sogoyan, President of Ice Link. “The World Cup tournament is a wonderful way to establish ourselves in the sports arena with a solid program that has staying power.”
The third world title bout on the March 4 World Cup will pit WBO bantam champ Jhonny Gonzales against the Philippines’ Gerry Penalosa. However, owing to recent pronouncements made by Team Gonzales that they are not so keen on facing Penalosa in the Philippines, organizers are now planning to have WBO junior fly champ Hugo Cazares defend against Rodel Mayol or Bert Batawang instead.
Top promoter Sammy Gello-ani, who outbid Bob Arum for the right to stage the Montiel-Gorres fight, said that the ‘World Cup’ event on March 4, which he will co-promote with Oscar De la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, is expected to become this year’s biggest boxing event in Asia
