LAS VEGAS ? Unless he puts all his heart and mind into it, Manny Pacquiao might find himself in serious trouble against Mexico?s Eric Morales.
In his first full day at the MGM Grand, the fabulous sight of their scheduled 12-round battle on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Pacquiao did something he shouldn?t be doing at this stage: playing at the casino.
Pacquiao went jogging in the morning but was seen seated at one of the hundreds of casino tables before noon. He was with his wife Jinkee and a handful of LA-based Pinoys wearing black Pacquiao shirts.
Reporters saw the hard-hitting fighter, who?s also into big-money games in billiards back home, at one of the Black Jack tables. One of those with him said Pacquiao had chips worth $500 to start with.
“Nanalo naman,” said the informant. “Malaki na nga sana, umabot na ng halos $1,500. May tatlong sunod-sunod na Black Jack nga. Pero nung tumayo, panalo na lang ng $800. Namigay ng $20 each sa mga kasama.”
It?s the third time that Pacquiao will see action at the MGM Grand, considered the mother of all casinos here in the US.
But it was the first time he sat at the casino table before a fight.
“Hindi naman niya ginagawa ?yan dati. Nagka-casino ?yan pagkatapos na ng laban,” said an old Team Pacquiao insider who observed that a lot of new faces have been around Pacquiao since he came to Los Angeles last Jan. 8.
“Matamis kasi. Pero hindi ko maintindihan. Ang dami masyadong kasamang bago,” he added.
One cannot deny that Pacquiao has been working so hard, in fact never as hard, in training. But playing at the casino with barely four days left before the big fight will not serve him in good stead.
Pacquiao trained at the IBA Gym Tuesday afternoon and did four rounds of mitts with American coach Freddie Roach and his regular regimen of shadow-boxing, speed balls, double-end bags and stretching.
He will have his final gym work Wednesday. The last two days before the fight will keep Pacquiao off the gym, just doing some walking and a lot of resting and focusing in his room.
Morales, the former WBC and WBA super-featherweight champion, has reportedly trained in seclusion in the Otomi mountains of Mexico just to maintain his focus on the match.
“Ni hindi mo makikita ?yan si Morales na malapit sa casino table dito. Except siguro kapag papunta sa buffet area,” said the insider.
Morales probably knows this old saying that “nobody wins at the casino.”
Notes: The MGM Grand is definitely a gambler?s paradise. With its huge playing area that could hardly be matched by others, the 5,005-room casino-hotel offers basically everything when it comes to gambling. No wonder the place is jumping 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The playing area never runs out of people and the bars, drinks are flowing as early as 10 in the morning. The MGM Grand main lobby leading to the playing area looks like a catwalk at times, with gorgeous women, chaperoned or otherwise and some of them after having a drink too many, making a lot of heads turn. The buffet area is probably one of the biggest in the world with at least 10 long rows of different cuisine ? Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and American ? for breakfast, lunch and dinner… All 2,800 tickets for $75 (P4,000) have been sold out, according to Bob Arum, the fight promoter who also promotes Erik Morales. Other ticket prices are $400 for ringside, $300, $200 and $125. Having these tickets signed by both Pacquiao and Morales is turning out to a challenge to some holders. “I?ll have this signed by Morales. But Pacquiao is my man,” said an American who met Pacquiao at the lobby and had his ticket autographed.
