RING WARS. Boxers Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley face off during the final news conference on Wednesday for their bout at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday (Sunday in Manila). AFP
Reason: Pacquiao and his rival will be fighting with yellow gloves and the Filipino champion has asked spectators to also come in yellow.
Pacquiao wants to use the color—a symbol of unity and hope during the time of late President Cory Aquino, mother of the country’s present leader, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III—as a unifying force for Filipinos at home and those scattered around the globe.
“Wear yellow on Saturday,” Pacquiao asked those present at Wednesday’s final pre-fight press conference at the Hollywood Theater of the MGM Grand. “Unity is the best weapon for us.”
Pacquiao also made a pitch for Gawad Kalinga, a non-governmental organization dedicated to providing homes and livelihood to the destitute.
“The biggest fight in my life is to end poverty in my country,” said Pacquiao, who wore a coat and tie befitting his other role as congressman.
No stranger to hunger, Pacquiao said he had to fight for survival as a child and this spurred him to improve himself.
Now that he’s at the summit of success, Pacquiao—referred to by Top Rank head honcho and promoter Bob Arum as the Social Welfare Administration of the Philippines—wants to help the needy.
Unprecedented viewership
At the press conference, Pacquiao hummed a line of his new CD/DVD record “Sometimes when We Touch” as he introduced collaborator and composer Dan Hill.
Pacquiao was joined at the podium by chief trainer Freddie Roach, Filipino assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez, lawyer Jeng Gacal, adviser Mike Koncz and Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson.
Meanwhile, Arum’s gamble to switch channels has paid off.
Arum said the Fight Camp 360 Degree series of Showtime and CBS, designed to drum up interest in the fight, has attracted well over three million viewers and this is likely to top four million when its final episode is aired before fight night.
That figure, according to Arum, is three times what a big time card draws during the 24/7 series of former broadcast partner HBO.
Tickets sold out
He attributed the unprecedented viewership to CBS’s larger subscriber base, the ESPN updates, daily newscasts on CBS stations and the fame and reputation of the protagonists themselves.
Arum boasted that tickets for the 17,000-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena were sold out five weeks before the fight, sustaining a phenomenal start when thousands of tickets were sold in just three hours.
Sales for the closed circuit TV are extremely high, well over 10,000.
Apart from the guaranteed purses of $20 million for Pacquiao and $5 million for Mosley, Arum foresees more financial rewards for both fighters as pay-per-view buys are also expected to top a million.
Pacquiao has averaged more than a million buys in his last four bouts, including his lopsided victories over Ghanaian Joshua Clottey and Mexican Antonio Margarito last year.
The Clottey and Margarito fights each drew more than 41,000 paying spectators, with Pacquiao-Clottey registering 50,994, including party ticket holders.
Limited space will prevent Pacquiao-Mosley from getting anywhere that attendance, but a full house will put smiles on the faces of Arum, Pacquiao and Mosley.
Pacquiao 6-1 favorite
Oddsmakers have made Pacquiao a 6-1 favorite. But Pacquiao himself says the 39-year-old Mosley may prove to be his most difficult fight since he became a superstar by beating Oscar De La Hoya three years ago.
“He’s the kind of fighter you can’t underestimate,” Pacquiao said. “He moves like he’s 31, 32 years old. “He has hand speed, and he has foot speed.”
Many in boxing think otherwise. They see Mosley as a shell of the fighter who beat De La Hoya twice and has held titles in three different weight classes.
But styles do make fights, and Mosley believes he has the speed and power to trade punches with a fighter who likes nothing better than a good brawl in the ring.
“It’s going to [be] very quick,” Mosley said.
Pacquiao has a record of 52-3-2 with 38 knockouts. The American is 46-6-1 with 39 KOs. With reports from Associated Press and Reuters