LAS VEGAS ? Media credential applications to Saturday night?s fight at the MGM Grand reached 500, Top Rank publicist Ricardo Jimenez said on Tuesday.
?We had to turn down half of the applications,? said Jimenez, who revealed that the major US newspapers and networks had applied for credentials for the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley welterweight match.
When Top Rank was still promoting Oscar De La Hoya, Jimenez said there was also a tremendous response to his fights but nothing compares to Pacquiao?s appeal.
?Pacquiao has grown so big, he has blown out of proportion,? said Jimenez, awed how Pacquiao lures crowds to the usually-boring events like formal arrival rites that drew hundreds at the lobby of the MGM Grand.
Of the 17,000 seats at the Grand Garden Arena, 250 seats will be allotted to the media.
Given credentials include The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, the major networks like CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox, Manila-based broadsheets and Philippine-based networks and media entities from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, Canada and England.
