TOKYO — Manny Pacquiao did not travel a total of 2,329 miles from General Santos City to Cebu and then here to see a Filipino boxer lose in a world title shot.
Pacquiao flew a total of five hours to get here to support Eriberto Gejon in his quest to bring home the World Boxing Association (WBA) minimumweight crown on Sunday night in the neighboring seaport city of Yokohama and become the fourth Filipino boxer to win abroad in a span of one month.
To ensure that all his time and effort would not be put to waste, Pacquiao immediately gave Gejon some pointers when they finally met Friday afternoon at the lobby of the Hotel Grand Palace.
“I told him to keep on punching because he is the challenger,” said Pacquiao, who arrived here with his wife Jinkee, promoter Wakee Salud and a few associates from Cebu. They were all on board the Philippine Airlines jet that took off from Mactan-Cebu at 7:45 a.m.
Gejon slugs it out with Yutaka Niida in a 12-rounder at the Yokohama Arena in a double-main event featuring the World Boxing Council bantamweight title fight between Japanese Hozumi Hasegawa and Gerardo Martinez of Mexico.
As Gejon’s cornermen, Brix Flores and Jun Bubuli and Salud’s friends looked on, Pacquiao demonstrated to Gejon how to neutralize the aggressiveness of his Japanese foe.
“You are the challenger so you have to bring the fight to the champion,” Pacquiao told Gejon, who is expected to make the limit of 105 lbs when the official weighin is held at the Korakuen Hall at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
“Basta’t huwag lang magkumpiyansa kaya natin ito,” said Gejon as Games and Amusements Board boxing division head Noli Flores nodded in agreement.
Flores said Gejon, who is four inches taller than the 5-2 Niida, even ate lunch consisting of yakisoba and steamed rice in a tiny restaurant just a few minutes from the hotel.
“The reason I flew all the way from the Philippines is to see Gejon win,” said Pacquiao, who only two weeks ago scored a pulsating sixth-round knockout win over Hector Velazquez of Mexico at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
On the very same night Pacquiao beat up Velazquez, two other Filipinos won their respective fights. Brian Viloria captured the World Boxing Council (WBC) light-fly titlebelt, while bantamweight Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista made an eye-popping US mainland debut.
Luis Pabon of Puerto Rico has been assigned to referee the Niida-Gejon scuffle, while the three judges at ringside are Pinit Prayadsab of Thailand, Wan Soo Yuh of Korea and Medardo Villalobos of Panama. The supervisor is Renzo Bagnariol of Nicaragua.
