LOS ANGELES — Veteran actor Eddie Gutierrez, trim, tall and handsome in a leather jacket, visited the Wild Card gym on Friday for Manny Pacquiao?s training and had some female heads turning.
He said he talked to Pacquiao the previous evening to ask about his preparedness.
?Ready? Super, super ready,? Pacquiao exclaimed.
Gutierrez, together with his wife Annabelle Rama, was the first in a slew of celebrities and politicians expected to trek to Las Vegas to cheer for the Pacman.
He said his friend Rudy Fernandez should be here no later than Sunday.
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Luis ?Chavit? Singson should be heading for Vegas anytime this week.
Wakee Salud, whose new gym in Cebu Pacman used in his training, checked in at Vagabond Inn, Pacquiao?s former quarter, Friday.
Rod Nazario, mainly responsible for launching Pacquiao?s career from Wild Card, is due Wednesday.
But the biggest bulk of Pacquiao rooters will come from various US cities, with others planing in from the Caribbean and South America.
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Of course, the main aim of their trip is to witness Pacquiao win, and bask in the predicted victory.
But, mind you, don?t these footloose fans also bother to bring with them some sort of a charm to the fight site?
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Some would say there?s no need anymore for a good-luck item because all Pacquiao has to do is show up on fight night.
They would say Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera is so washed up he would be lucky to still be standing by the 8th round.
Yes, it has come to that wild point when Pacman fanatics have long buried and forgotten the possibility of a Pacquiao loss on Oct. 6.
OK, these diehards cannot be accused of deluding themselves because a reality check would show how Pacquiao and Barrera went separate ways since their first meeting in November 2003, won by the RP hero by an 11th-round knockout.
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Super, super ready. Yes, but still there?s this one Pacman admirer who went out of his way to wish the great Pinoy warrior good luck.
This happened late Friday at the Mayflower restaurant, a Pacquiao favorite in Chinatown.
Salud herded some members of Team Pacquiao to the place where they had a sumptuous lauriat.
What a great night of feasting ahead of the big fight.
Now, as they prepared for a burpy exit, the owner of the place returned to the cash register to retrieve the amount paid for the feast.
This totalled $70, hefty discount included.
The owner then put the dollar bills inside a red, crispy Chinese envelop with golden signs, folded the thing and asked Jojo Sta. Theresa, a Pacman close-in aide formerly with Wakee Salud, to give it to Pacquiao.
Hold it, the owner said, Manny must open the envelop only in the dugout on fight night.
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So what will Pacquiao do with a measly $70, when he parts away daily with no less than $500 for each lunch at the Nats Thai restaurant near Wild Card?
Now, don?t tell that to Se?or Barrera. Whatever luck there?s left in the boxing, Barrera would most likely advise, the Pacman must scoop up.
You see, there?s this prognosis that the separate paths Barrera and Pacquiao have taken since their last fight could well foretell the directions the rematch would take.
The experts may indeed be right.
Pacquiao has since improved vastly while Barrera has gone nowhere.
Read on please. Last heard, Barrera was claiming this second fight would never be an easy one for Pacquiao. Never.
He said it will be a totally different, vastly prepared Barrera who will report for war at the Mandalay Bay Resort/Casino next Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
And only $70 worth of luck, based on the training trends in both camps, may not be enough.
