LOOK: Bus with Pacquiao images to head 100-car convoy to Las Vegas
The Pacquiao bus that will be used by Team Pacquiao on the way to Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday, 27 April 2015 (US time). PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA/ INQUIRER / See more at FRAME
HOLLYWOOD—There it was, parked by the roadside, between Park Plaza Lodge and Fiddler’s Bistro, the official Manny Pacquiao bus for his Fight of the Century with Floyd Mayweather on May 2 at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
It was painted primarily in black and gray with highlights of white and yellow of the sun on the Philippine flag. There’s a dark image of Pacquiao’s piercing eyes on all sides of the bus. Up close, his image was hardly recognizable because of its size.
Front view of the bus. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA/ INQUIRER / See more at FRAME
Attribute the sparse design to the long time the two sides officially came to terms for the richest, grandest fight of all-time.
The Pacquiao livery used to be bright with a distinct image of the eight-division world champion.
The Volvo 54-seater luxury bus will be the biggest of the nearly 100 vehicles in the convoy. One of the vehicles, a sport utility vehicle, will carry Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee. The convoy will negotiate Interstate 15 Monday afternoon en route to Las Vegas, 445 kilometers away from the Wild Card gym here where Pacquiao trained for seven weeks.
After his early morning run on Monday, Pacquiao will sweat it out at chief trainer Freddie Roach’s gym for four rounds of sparring in the early afternoon before breaking training camp and leading his big entourage to the biggest battle of his life.
The convoy will make a traditional stop at the Barstow outlets before proceeding to the gambling Mecca which is enjoying an unprecedented boom spurred by the welterweight showdown between the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers.
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Hotel room rates have soared to $1,600 a night and there’s hardly any left as ordinary fight fans, high-rollers and celebrities start to arrive for the 12-round bout projected to generate $400 million in revenue.
Prime seats fetch over $106,000 in the resale market, while the cheapest general admission tickets with a floor price of $1,500 fetch $5,245 on StubHub.
Roach experienced first hand the exorbitant cost of tickets when he coughed up $70,000 for 20 tickets, which, of course, is a huge bargain.
“My mother asked for four tickets and my mother gets what she wants,” Roach told AP. “My brothers and sister all want to go. I’m happy I can afford to buy them tickets.”
Even the $10 tickets for the May 1 weigh-in, which used to be free, are now going as high as $700. Closed circuit TV on MGM Grand hotels and establishments which cost $150 is selling at $620.
Oddsmakers are handling bets in amounts they’re not used to, with Mayweather still the favorite at -275 and Pacquiao the underdog at +175, meaning it will take a $275 wager on Mayweather to earn $100. A $100 bet on Pacquiao, on the other hand, will net $175.
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Team Pacquiao is expected to hit Vegas late in the evening.
