Later tonight Manny Pacquiao will make his grand arrival to Los Angeles as he is scheduled to be arriving at the LAX airport at approximately 8:05 PM/PT. Pacquiao is hitting the area to finish up his training at the Wild Card Boxing Club as his May 7th date with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand creeps closer and closer.
Pacquiao has stamped himself as an international superstar and at age 32 is looked at as the world’s premier fighter. Every year that passes, so too does his popularity grow and there will be a throng of supporters awaiting him for his arrival in a few hours’ time.
Earlier today I spoke with Top Rank photographer Chris Farina, who has been chronicling Pacquiao for several years now. The mild-mannered Farina will be at LAX tonight capturing more hectic moments as the Filipino star makes his American invasion.
I asked Farina exactly how many times he has been through this process before and what it is like being in the middle of the madness.
“I don’t know how many times. Maybe a dozen. But it seems like every time we get there, the crowd gets bigger and bigger. More fans show up to see him,” Farina said of Pacquiao.
I also questioned Farina, who has been around some of the world’s biggest superstars since joining Top Rank in 1988, whether he has seen an attraction like Pacquiao who has captured the masses in the fashion he has.
“Not for a long time,” said Farina. “Not, I think, since years ago. As far as I can remember, not in the last ten years.”
Farina seems to be one of the busiest men in the sport and outside of the pre-fight coverage related to Pacquiao-Mosley he is also gearing up for an April 16th date in Puerto Rico for Juan Manuel Lopez’s defense of his WBO featherweight crown against Orlando Salido as well as a June 4th assignment in L.A. for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s fight with Sebastian Zbik,
It’s a constant grind for Farina and I had to ask him whether all of the jet-setting was something he has grown tired of after all these years in the sport.
“I don’t mind traveling. It’s hard on my family and that’s what I really have to be concerned about. They don’t like me to be gone as much as I am but that’s the way the business is.”
Fair enough but don’t hold your breath on too many exclusive images from Farina from tonight. For Pacquiao’s last arrival in Los Angeles, a few months back to kick off his press tour with Mosley, he found a way to pull a Houdini by slipping out of the public’s eye and taking an alternate route away from his throng of fans.
We’ll see if Farina can catch him tonight.
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at [email protected]
