The neon lights on their billboards have been flashing. The buzz has been louder than ever. And the fight hasn?t even started yet.
But a Las Vegas strip that announces a fight with this much pomp — such as the one between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez on May 8 — could mean one thing: it could favor that 25-year-old challenger from the Philippines.
Freddie Roach, the trainer who has helped Pacquiao go undefeated in US-based fights in the last three years, can attest to that.
?Manny kinda thrives and likes to perform for an audience. So it?s a little distracting in one way but it helps in other ways.?
The audience Roach referring to was ?just the handful? at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Now imagine the spectators that?ll troop to the 10,000-seat MGM Grand Hotel and what that can do to pump up Pacquiao?s intensity level.
