Well, we?ve arrived in Vegas to cover the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch of their 2004 classic. As you know Marquez-Pacquiao II, ?Unfinished Business,? will be for the WBC and vacant Ring Magazine super featherweight championship, and will be shown live on HBO PPV this Saturday, March 15 at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT for $49.95.
It was a rough plane trip. I had the window seat, second row, and I was boxed in by two James Toney look alikes. The guys in front of me had so much legroom that they couldn?t even reach the wall with their feet, but for some reason they insisted on remaining in the reclining position for the entire five hour trip. So for the duration of the trip my face was pressed against the window and two inches from the seat in front of me.
I had to hustle to catch a cab upon arrival because the final press conference was due to begin at 12:30 p.m. More importantly, the media luncheon was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. After a while you learn a few things and for me that means that Top Rank and Golden Boy, the principal promoters of the fight always put on the best spread. You can really tie on the feed bag with those guys.
Aside from that, the majority of these press conferences are the same old thing warmed over, unless of course Ricardo Mayorga is involved.
I did put down my knife and fork long enough to get some useful information:
1) The current odds are Pacquiao -230 and Marquez + 190. In the first fight Pacquiao was favored at – 180 with Marquez +160.
2) The weigh in Friday will be streamed live on HBO.com at 5:30 ET, 2:30 PT. Top Rank chief Bob Arum said that it would also be webcast on Yahoo.com and ESPN.com. In addition to various showings on HBO this week, Marquez-Pacquiao I will be available On Demand and will be webcast on HBO.com.
3) In the first fight, the official scores were 115-110 for Pacquiao, 115-110 for Marquez, and 113-113.
4) Tickets priced at $600, $400, and $300 are still available as today. The $200 and $100 tickets have sold out, and a sellout is ?almost guaranteed.?
