Manny Pacquiao’s career has so many highlights that it’s tough to boil it down to just five greatest moments.
Boxing
Early money favored Manny Pacquiao, and now money is coming in on Floyd Mayweather. It might not be Super Bowl big, but Las Vegas oddsmakers figure the betting handle on the fight will be $50 million to $80 million.
Manny Pacquiao had heard it all from Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his family. And for a while, he was angry about it. How angry? He sued the Mayweathers for defamation of character after they publicly alleged Pacquiao was using performance-enhancing drugs in 2009. But Pacquiao claims to no longer bear any grudges against Mayweather.
Ray Beltran didn’t make weight for his fight with Takahiro Ao of Japan on Friday at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas for the vacant WBO lightweight championship. The fight now will be 10 rounds and only Ao can win the title. Jessie Magdaleno of Las Vegas also will fight on the card.
Floyd Mayweather Sr., who trains his son, was his entertaining self Thursday with the media. Most of the questions he couldn’t understand, especially from the foreign journalists. Those he did understand, he answered with equal parts alacrity and disdain.
Ishe Smith, a former junior middleweight champion from Las Vegas, left no doubt he still has something left, winning a 10-round unanimous decision over Cecil McCalla on Thursday in the main event of a boxing card at the Palms.
Freddie Roach is a Hall of Fame trainer who for years has gone over in his mind every detail, every form of strategy, every potential surprise and counteraction, every movement that could decide a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
For a boxing match hyped as the “fight of the century,” there sure are a lot of available tickets out there. Here’s where you can find over 1,000 tickets as of Thursday night for Saturday’s showdown between Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Even a screenwriter might have trouble scripting Manny Pacquiao’s rise from abject poverty to stardom in ring and hero status in the Philippines. “I am fighting this fight for the honor of my country and for the people of the Philippines,” Pacquiao said of the megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. “It is a responsibility I take very seriously.”
Rates for the cheapest rooms at MGM Grand, the host hotel for Saturday’s so-called fight of the century boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquaio, plummeted Thursday when the room cost fell to $499 a night from more than $1,500 for Friday and Saturday nights, according to Vegas.com.
Even before he could walk, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was wearing boxing gloves and throwing punches. He’s undefeated as a professional but faces the biggest fight of his career on Saturday when he faces Manny Pacquiao.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is the first megafight for Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission. Among other things, the commission is in charge of the boxing gloves each fighter will use. Don’t expect to find a horseshoe in them.
Former world junior middleweight champion Ishe Smith looks to get back on track when he headlines Thursday’s card at the Palms, which will be televised on ESPN2. Smith, who is coming off a loss to WBA champ Erislandy Lara in December, faces Cecil McCalla in the 10-round main event.
If Saturday’s megafight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao is anything like Wednesday’s final news conference to promote their showdown at the MGM Grand Garden, the Nevada National Guard may have to be called out to handle the angry mob which will be the disappointed sellout crowd of 16,700.
Wednesday was the official media day to promote the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Manny Pacquiao megafight Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden, and yet Mayweather’s comfortable demeanor and candid temperament haven’t wavered much since the much-anticipated bout was announced.
LISTEN TO THE TOP FIVE HERE