LAS VEGAS – The weather continues to be strangely frigid in this desert as the mercury refuses to rise to a more desirable level. I come from the belly of the Midwest, where 40 degrees is like a heat wave, but we’ve had a really mild winter in Chicago so far, so this Vegas weather is a little too cold for me.
My third day here began in a frantic pace, and even though a runny nose was pestering me, I met the deadlines for my stories. I sat back a bit, called home and rewarded myself with a small cup of $2.49 hot chocolate. With SGS stable owner Sammy Gello-ani buckled in the front seat, I was behind the wheel of a rented 2006 Chevy Trail Blazer at around 10:30 a.m.
We made the short drive to Bally’s, where we picked up PDI’s Recah Trinidad and Salven Lagumbay of CDN.
Just as our tummies were beginning to growl, we arrived at Ito’y Sariling Atin eatery along Maryland Parkway, the same patch of highway where the Thomas and Mack Center is located.
Tired, if not sick, of all the greasy stuff served at the Casino buffet tables, our foursome each had a bowl of tinolang isda. Each of us also had another viand on our combos, and I ordered pork chops and inihaw na pusit for everybody.
We surveyed the Thomas and Mack Center and took pictures at around past noon. After that, we went to the Orleans Casino where Z Gorres and Czar Amonsot will banner Guilty Promotions’ Friday Night Fights offering on Feb. 3.
With Tony Martin doing a lot of legwork for the ALA Boys, large posters of Z and Czar are scattered all over the Orleans lobby. We wanted to view the Mardi Gras ballroom, site of the battle, but it was closed. We arrived at the sprawling Wynn Resort at 1:30 p.m. I dropped off my Sammy, Recah and Salven in the main lobby before self-parking in the third level. It was close to 2 p.m. when I settled inside the Margaux Ballroom for the official weigh-in of PacMan-Morales II.
A half an hour before PacMan was about to strip his boxers and tip the scales, I went live on-air with Ted Ayeng at dyTR in Tagbiliran, Bohol. It was a good 30-minute report, a segment which hopefully made up for the two days where my other radio commitments hindered me from calling Ted. At around 5:20 p.m., I got a call from Beau of Y101. Another radio segment beckoned and I yapped and yapped and yapped until around 6 p.m. Bob Arum hosted a cocktail party for international sportswriters at the Lure, a very fancy restaurant at Wynn, where a bottle of beer costs $8. Sammy, Salven and me got there at around 6:15 p.m. and we wasted no time in relishing treats like quish, pork and beef. Man, I ate so much shrimp I was afraid I’d grow scales.
Of course, I washed everything down with shots of rum and Coke. While talking to various promoters and managers, Sammy kept bending his elbows with a Heineken on hand. Salven was also busy networking, but he was never far from a bottle of Corona beer.
A wiry blonde with penetrating blue eyes caught my attention. Wearing a skimpy dress that shimmered with a million golden sequins, she worked the Lure as a cocktail server. She had a smallish tattoo just below her nape, she smelled like fresh orchids, and her hips were as narrow as a bigot’s mind. I was about to be chatty with her, but my cellphone won’t stop ringing. Jun Migallen, Super B sports editor, called from Cebu and I can’t ignore him. Randy Jainar of dyAB called from Mandaue, and with him running the show, I did my dyAB segment at around 7 p.m.
We left the Lure at 7:30 and dropped Salven off the Strip on the way to the Excalibur. Sammy and I were planning an early rest, but Pex Aves, a Dumaguete native now living in LA paid us a visit bringing 24 cans of Budweiser. Pex used to be a boxing promoter in the Philippines, but he is now a successful businessman here and is active in the LA press club.
I drank one beer, but it didn’t seem to sit well with the rum that was floating in my system. Tired and inebriated I went to dreamland at about 9 p.m. Zzzzzzzzzz. (HDS)
