LAS VEGAS — Cash votes, in the form of bets over the sports book windows here, continued to swell in favor of Manny Pacquiao, with the one-sided trend Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) forcing Top Rank big boss Bob Arum to step out of bounds.
In a desperate move to win back Mexican confidence in Erik Morales, Arum has started to float bold claims on how his fighter would easily avenge his previous knockout loss to Pacquiao in the Grand Finale here on Saturday.
Nothing wrong with the move, Morales being Arum?s favorite in his rich stable.
But on Wednesday, Arum did the unexpected after he invited himself to Pacquiao?s afternoon workout and thereby wrecked the solemnity inside the classy but humid IBA Gym at the far-off side of Euclid Street.
The loud intrusion, which saw Arum firing cheap shots at Pacquiao, readily raised the hackles of trainer Freddie Roach. ?He (Arum) has no business coming here and telling media people how his boy would eat Manny,? Roach, livid, protested.
Short of calling Arum silly, Roach said the ploy was desperate.
Despite feeling deeply slighted, Roach has refused to let the incident reach Pacquiao. Who knows? Maybe it was Arum?s ploy to win back the diminished confidence of his once-avid countrymen in Morales, a top contender to succeed Mexican prizefight icon Julio Cesar Chavez.
If the sports book trend doesn?t change by Saturday morning, there would be fewer Mexicans trekking to the Thomas and Mack Center where Filipino rooters were greatly outnumbered by El Terrible?s backers last January.
Joseph Baguiao, maybe a distant relative of the Pacman, reported that Filipino fans have banded together in San Diego.
?We will be there on Friday, everybody?s very excited,? he said, adding that they would be joined by other Filipino groups from other states in a motorcade around this glittering gaming capital early Saturday.
From Rowland Heights in Los Angeles, builder Joebing Malabanan, formerly of Lipa City, continued to rue the fact that, unlike last January for the second Pacquiao-Morales encounter, Mexicans this time have started to junk El Terible.
?Mga Mexicano, si Pacquiao na ang paborito (Mexicans now bet on Pacquiao),? he reported through a text message on Wednesday.
In order to lead Mexicans to a wager, Malabanan suggested Filipinos might have to pick Morales (?Pusta tayo kay Morales, para kasado.?)
Before dark in this city now being jabbed by icy desert winds, a gambler could collect only $100 if he placed $240 on Pacquiao and he wins.
A $100 wager on Morales would pay a fat $200, doblado.
Of course, there will be very few takers for a drawn bout, which, at 12/1, would yield $1,200 for a hundred bucks on the deck.
The bulk of the bet go for a short bout and Pacquiao winning by knockout.
Roach, brushing off Arum, insisted on an early ending. ?Morales will try to jump in and go for a kill early, we are ready for that,? Roach told the Inquirer.
He bared they are similarly prepared for a long-drawn battle. ?I don?t think Morales would ride a bike, he would be too macho to run if the fight goes past six rounds,? Shelly Finkel, Pacquiao?s manager, explained.
Roach predicted an unhappy ending for Arum. ?It should be a knockout either in the 9th, 10th or 11th,? Roach declared with the clear throat of a tested general.
A Morales win by KO would pay $400 for a $100 bet.
Pacquiao by knockout would yield a couple of hundred bucks for $100.
