Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Manny off to US by Sept. 14 By Edwin G. Espejo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- World Boxing Council lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao will leave on September 14 for the US for a seven-city tour to drum up fan interest for his December mega fight with Oscar De La Hoya.
The promotional tour will kick off in New York and will make stopovers in San Antonio and Houston in Texas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in California, Las Vegas in Nevada, and a still to be named major city in the US.
Top Rank insider Michael Koncz said Bob Arum and people from Golden Boy Promotion, including Oscar dela Hoya himself, will also help promote the fight.
Koncz was present when Pacquiao inaugurated his newly constructed commercial building in General Santos Monday.
Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotion will co-stage the 12-round bout between boxing's biggest draw in Oscar dela Hoya and the widely acknowledged pound-for-pound king in Manny Pacquiao.
The two agreed to square off at the catch weight limit of 147 pounds.
The fight will give Pacquiao the biggest purse of his boxing career and could surpass the Filipino's combined earnings in all his previous fights.
Although Pacquiao and his team are declining to give details of the purse he would get in the dela Hoya fight, many believed Manny could earn as much as $15 million.
Koncz, however, said the recession in the US could affect the pay per view proceeds of the fight.
But Team Pacquiao is hoping it could top at least 1.5 million buys.
The dela Hoya-Pacquiao fight is slated at 14,000-seat MGM Grand Hotel ballroom in Las Vegas where Pacquiao first catapulted into fame via a sensation al six round stoppage of Lehlohonolo Ledwaba to capture the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight crown in 2001.
That fight was an undercard of the dela Hoya-Castillejo fight for the WBC light middleweight title which dela Hoya snatched from his opponent via a unanimous decision.
Pacquiao has been doing light cross training regimen while in General Santos and is expected to resume heavy training under the watchful eyes of longtime coach Freddie Roach when he arrives in the US.
His close in buddy Nonoy Neri said Manny will not longer be starved to weight but still has to watch his diet.
Both dela Hoya and Pacquiao agreed to a $3 million penalty for every pound and a fraction thereof if they tip the scales over the 147-lb limit.
