ASIDE FROM the first class airfare, lavish accommodations and the promise of making the biggest ever paycheck for Manny Pacquiao, Top Rank big boss Bob Arum is also making sure the Filipino boxing star receives royal treatment the moment he heads to Las Vegas for his March 15 rematch with Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez.
“Certain people sees it as a crazy demand but Manny gets 30 (ringside) tickets, suites for him and his trainer Freddie Roach and several rooms for his entourage and guests,” Arum told the Bulletin in an overseas call from Sin City.
“Those 30 seats are some of the best seats (at the Mandalay Bay Events Center),” Arum said.
Not only that, assures Arum. He wants Pacquiao to travel in style from Los Angeles.
“I would like Manny to take the plane to Las Vegas but it seems he likes to travel by land.”
But if Pacquiao decides to fly, “my offer still stands,” said the 76-yearold Harvard-educated lawyer. “I will get him a plane.”
“You see, these are not over-the-top demands and it only commensurate Pacquiao?s status as an elite fighter.”
Choice seats at the 12,000-seat Events Center will be hard to come by in the last few days leading to the big event and Arum disclosed in another interview a few days ago that “85 percent of the tickets have been sold.”
Tickets are priced at $ 600, 00, $ 300, $ 200 and $ 100 but Arum believes money will flow freely from the $ 49.95 pay-per-view buys in US households.
Aside from the hefty purse, Pacquiao is also entitled to an upside from the pay-per-view revenues as stipulated in the contract that he signed last December when Arum joined in celebrating Pacquiao?s 29th birthday in General Santos City.
Pacquiao is currently in the heat of training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles and sparring sessions will start in about two weeks, according to Roach, who has got eight solid weeks to whip Pacquiao into terrific shape.
In the event Pacquiao gets past Marquez, Arum will pit him with World Boxing Council lightweight king David Diaz in Macau on June 28, followed by a slambang showdown with British super-lightweight Ricky Hatton in Dubai or Las Vegas in November.
