INQUIRER Sports

LAS VEGAS?The year?s biggest boxing circus?complete with custom-painted buses and helicopter rides?has finally arrived in this neon-bathed desert gambling haven.

Filipino ring sensation Manny Pacquiao and his huge entourage hit town at a little past 10 p.m. Monday after a five-hour road trip from Los Angeles ready for his clash with Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) at the MGM Grand here.

?We?re finally here,? said American trainer Freddie Roach. ?(The fight is) a few days away, getting close (and we?re) ready.?

The multi-vehicle convoy included a custom-painted bus delivered by Top Rank, which will promote the ?Dream Match.? Pacquiao rode on the bus early on but ditched it in favor of his traditional ride roughly 10 minutes into the trip.

Although the convoy reached the casino strip a bit later than it usually does when Pacquiao travels here, he was up and about as he hosted a dinner for friends at his 61st floor suite at Mandalay Bay?s THE Hotel.

De La Hoya also arrived here Monday evening. Both fighters, though, will be formally unveiled Tuesday at the MGM Grand an hour and a half apart, kicking of activities leading to fight night?including, for Pacquiao at least, an aerial tour of Las Vegas.

?There?s going to be a helicopter ride for Manny around Vegas through HBO,? Roach revealed.

Pacquiao is to jog on Tuesday morning, Wednesday and Thursday, before training at the IBA gym.

?Thursday is usually the day we try to make the weight,? Roach explained. ?But since we don?t have to make weight we might have a light walk or jog.?

Pacquiao will fight not needing to lose too many pounds. He was last weighed at 148 and Roach wants him either at 144 or 145 during the official weigh-in.

?The food intake we have to watch out for is after the weigh-in to make sure he doesn?t bloat too big,? Roach said. ?Ideally I want Manny on the scales at 144 to 145 then go into the ring 150 max.?

Pacquiao sparred his last four rounds in preparation for De La Hoya. The Gen. Santos native has now logged 163 rounds of sparring.

Roach is sticking to his prediction that Pacquiao will knock Oscar out in nine rounds. Team De La Hoya said the reigning WBC lightweight champion of the world will go down in five.

?If we fight the way we fight, we will break his body down, I think we can get him; I really do,? Roach added. ?Oscar is in great shape I know it. But he?s weak in the body. That?s where he gets hurt. (Felix) Trinidad hurt him there, (Bernard) Hopkins knocked him out (with a body shot).

?Oscar fades in slow-paced fights. And Manny is a fast-paced fighter. We have to make (Oscar) work.?

NOTES: The betting trend continues to put De La Hoya as a minus-185 favorite. Pacquiao is a plus-155 underdog? The most interesting proposition thus far is a wager on a Pacquiao win by knockout, which has 13-2 odds.