SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — Clad in white polo shirt, well-groomed and wearing a jewel-studded watch, Manny Pacquiao hardly appeared to be the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter Wednesday.
And when his turn to speak during the news conference for the “Blaze of Glory” fight card came, he projected a different persona. Pacquiao looked cool and calm.
There were no ballistics, no fire in his response to wild insinuations that Jorge Solis is better and would beat him in their April 14 showdown for the World Boxing Council International super featherweight crown.
He did not make any prediction about the outcome of the fight, he did not talk about hurting Solis.
Instead, he said he would fight a “good fight,” that he will try to entertain the fans and bring glory to his country.
All that he said was his oft-repeated line: He will do his best and make people, specially boxing fans, happy.
“As long as you are all happy, I’m happy,” said Pacquiao, sending the predominantly-Mexican crowd of about 300 roaring in approval.
While he may be a vicious, merciless warrior who always goes for the kill in the ring, the Pacquiao the Mexicans saw was a jolly, seemingly harmless fellow who seemed to enjoy the company of his brothers in the profession.
Even during the face-offs between the protagonists of the four bouts, Pacquiao continued to play the altar-boy part.
In contrast, WBC super flyweight king Christian Mijares and the mischievous Jorge Arce were able to project genuine animosity.
Fil-Am Brian Viloria and Edgar Sosa, meanwhile, seriously sized each other up for their battle for the vacant WBC light flyweight title, while Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was obviously irked by welterweight opponent Anthony Shuler’s short, pointblank assertion of an impending win.
Despite the presence of the entertaining Arce and the charismatic Chavez, who is unbeaten thus far, Pacquiao still stood out.
Meanwhile, Bob Arum, chief honcho of Top Rank which is promoting the Blaze of Glory fight card headlined by the Paquiao-Solis tiff in cooperation with Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, announced that there would be eight more co-productions between the two outfits.
