Pacquiao shrugs off delays

Marc Anthony Reyes MANILA, Philippines—Manny Pacquiao has finally put aside his concerns over his huge financial investments and as a new boxing promoter to buckle down to work with just a little over 10 weeks to go before his mega-fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

But Pacquiao said he was never remiss in his physical conditioning despite the slight delay in his preparation for the Dec. 6 welterweight bout with De La Hoya in Las Vegas.

“The preparation was slightly delayed because I briefly went back to the Philippines and then went straight to El Cajon (for his four-bout promotions pitting Filipinos against Mexican boxers),” said Pacquiao in his column in the tabloid Abante.

“But I never stopped running in the morning and playing basketball,” added the 29-year-old reigning WBC lightweight champion.

Pacquiao normally trains eight weeks before a fight but said he will prepare for 12 weeks for the “greatest fight of my life.”

But there will be one more disruption because he will kick off his promotional tour with De La Hoya on Oct. 1 at the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

The week-long schedule will have stops in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Tickets to the 17-000 seater MGM Grand already sold out for about $17 million, according to Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.

Meanwhile, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, through executive director Keith Kizer, announced that it has jurisdiction over the fight to be held in Las Vegas.

Kizer told www.insidesports.ph that the NSAC approved the fight and it will not be affected even by a plan by the Games and Amusements Board to cancel Pacquiao’s license.

Kizer’s announcement came after Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez proposed a bill to stop the fight because of the two fighters’ big disparity in height and heft.

Pacquiao stands five-foot-6, while De La Hoya towers over him at 5-10.

But Rodriguez’s fellow solon, Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella said the Philippine Congress should better leave it to the “boxing experts to decide.”

The 12-round, non-title fight dubbed as the Dream Match, is also beyond the reach of the World Boxing Council, whose president Jose Sulaiman is one of the fight’s most vocal critics.

( www.inquirer.net )