By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao decided not to take part in the grand arrival like his opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be doing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Instead, Pacquiao, his promoter Bob Arum, trainer Freddie Roach and adviser Michael Koncz held their own meeting with the fans and media on Tuesday at the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It wasn’t as quite as glitzy as some of the grand arrivals that we’ve seen at the MGM Grand, Pacquiao and his team met with the fans at a free fan rally today. I had to stress the word ‘free’ because the weigh-in this Friday at the MGM, which Pacquiao thankfully will be taking part in, won’t be free.
Boxing fans will have to pay $10 to see it. It’s unclear whose idea it was to ask boxing fans to have to pay what they normally saw for free in the past, but the argument is that the money will go to charity as well as to pay for security staff to control the crowd.
Here’s what Pacquiao had to say at today’s fan rally:
“Are you excited? Don’t get nervous on Saturday, I’m the one who’s going to fight in the ring so relax. Take it easy…I’m very excited. The confidence is there 100%. The Lord, my God, has strengthened me. I can do all things through Christ, who has strengthened me.”
Pacquiao appeared confident and relaxed. That means nothing though. He’s going to need a lot more than confidence on Saturday night for him to get past Mayweather. He’s going to need a lot of talent and a better game plan than what we’ve seen from him in his last six fights. Bum rushing is probably not going to work because Mayweather does very, very well against fighters that rush him the way Pacquiao does his opponents.
Roach has been saying that Pacquiao’s in an out attacks will have success against Mayweather because Pacquiao won’t be staying in the pocket for long enough to throw 6 to 8 punch combinations, but he seems to be forgetting that Mayweather will be timing Pacquiao and catching him on the way in and either tying him up or nailing him when he ducks under to move backwards. That’s why I think it’s important that Pacquiao bring something different for this fight and stop fighting the same way he’s been doing for the last 20 years.
“All Filipinos have reason to be proud of this man,” Arum said. “He represents you wonderfully, and he has taught the world and shown the world how great Filipinos are.”
Arum has been waiting for this fight for the past six years since he pulled Pacquiao out of negotiations abruptly during the first negotiations with Mayweather in 2009 when Floyd asked for random blood testing to check for performance enhancing drugs. It would be a pity if Arum comes up empty with Pacquiao losing badly and then not getting a rematch. But at least Arum and Pacquiao will make a lot of money off the fight. They didn’t have to pay extra for a world tour or a long HBO 24/7 Mayweather-Pacquiao series of episodes.
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