Three-time world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao was scheduled to leave alone for the US last night to promote his Jan. 21 Las Vegas fight–called “The Battle!”–against Erik Morales and will squeeze in a few training hours at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles before returning home Thursday morning.
Pacquiao was undecided on whether to leave or not until the last minute but fight promoter Bob Arum insisted for him to join Morales in a private party with HBO Sports officials, high-rollers and sponsors hosted by Steve Wynn at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas this afternoon (US time). Wynn reportedly put up $5 Million as the site fee for the fight which will be held at the 19,000-seat Thomas and Mack Center, home of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas Runnin’ Rebels varsity basketball team.
Pacquiao and Morales will also be at ringside for a hastily-assembled five-fight card at the Wynn facility tonight. Some of the fighters seeing action were scheduled to perform in the undercard of the scrapped Vitaly Klitschko-Hasim Rahman bout. One of the protagonists is unbeaten middleweight Vanes Martirosyan who is trained by Freddie Roach and managed by Shelly Finkel.
From Las Vegas, Pacquiao will go to Los Angeles where he plans to train at the Wild Card Gym on Monday. The next day, he will join Morales at a media lunch in the Sunset Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel. The fighters will be available for one-on-one interviews, announced Arum’s publicist Lee Samuels in a press release. That night, Pacquiao will take a Philippine Airlines flight back to Manila and will arrive Thursday dawn.
A plan for Pacquiao and Morales to promote their grudge rematch in a whirlwind tour of key US and Mexican cities was canceled because of time constraints and poor weather conditions. The tour would’ve kicked off with the appearance of both fighters at ringside for the Klitschko-Rahman bout. When the heavyweight fight was cancelled early this week, Pacquiao asked Arum if he could just stay in Manila and begin training in Cebu. But Arum had already committed Pacquiao’s attendance at Wynn’s private party. So Pacquiao was left no choice and had to leave unaccompanied. He would’ve gone with associate Rex (Wakee) Salud who stayed behind as his appointment to renew his US visa will not be until late this month.
When Pacquiao returns Thursday morning, he will likely fly to General Santos City to visit his family before setting up training camp in Cebu next weekend.
Pacquiao’s Los Angeles-based assistant Joe Ramos, meanwhile, said Roach will no longer join the fighter in the Cebu camp. Roach had planned to spend at least a week with Pacquiao in Cebu to supervise his training. Pacquiao’s manager Finkel also intended to visit Pacquiao in Cebu after Thanksgiving on Nov. 24 but as the fighter will leave for the US by Dec. 3 at the latest, he will just wait for him to arrive.
Roach is unable to fly in because he is busy training International Boxing Federation superbantamweight champion Israel Vasquez for his unification fight against World Boxing Council titleholder Oscar Larios at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Dec. 3.
Long-time cornerman Buboy Fernandez will monitor Pacquiao’s training in Cebu.
Pacquiao will not be in the country to celebrate his 27th birthday on Dec. 17 and the Christmas and New Year holidays with his family. He plans to leave on Dec. 3 to report for work at the Wild Card Gym on Dec. 5, a Monday. But a source said he may advance his departure to as early as Nov. 26 to log more training hours and watch Vasquez, one of his sparmates, take on Larios on Dec. 3.
In an earlier interview, Pacquiao confirmed he will sacrifice spending his birthday and the holidays with his family because he is determined to beat Morales and he knows he must be 100 percent fit for the biggest fight of his career.
Pacquiao said he will celebrate his birthday early this year and give out rice, canned goods, noodles and money to his poor townmates in General Santos City before he departs for the US. Last year, he spent over P1 Million in giveaways during his 26th birthday party.
