The trilogy between eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and two-time opponent Juan Manuel Marquez, who last fought in Las Vegas three years ago, is four months away.
Early September, JuanMa and his entourage are expected to arrive in Manila for what will be the launch of the bout’s promotional tour.
The tour will take Marquez and Pacquiao to selected cities around the world. Pacquiao requested original stops Tokyo and Dubai be scratched off the itinerary to devote more time to his training and conditioning.
That was what Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told my colleague Ronwaldo, who spares no expense on overseas phone calls.
Ronwaldo said Arum told him Marquez is tentatively arriving in Manila Sept. 1.
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So what exactly will happen during the Manila tour?
Nothing much is known at this stage except that the one-day event will be held at the Quirino Grandstand, with thousands expected to attend.
In fact, the Pacman has met with Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim weeks ago to seek his support and assistance on traffic arrangements and security preparations around the proposed area.
Mayor Lim did not hesitate to assure the Sarangani representative of his full support, even offering the city’s resources.
“We are more than willing to be of help in any way we can,” he said.
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Curious to know what happens in a promo tour for boxing, I asked boxing writer Abac Cordero, who has covered practically all of Pacquiao’s past fights, if he has an inkling of what the activities will be.
Abac may have been joking, but he said the tentative plan is to hold some kind of a rally, with a religious theme.
“Parang prayer rally with both boxers receiving communion—nothing definite yet,” said the scribe.
James Meneses of Solar Entertainment, which is organizing the affair confirmed that the script of the program is still in the works, but will soon be finalized.
And I thought there would be much singing and dancing in the event, with sports and show biz celebrities present.
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The scribes thought the two boxers were overly shy, that’s why they hardly talked and could hardly answer the questions poised by the media during the press conference tendered for them by AKTV-5 recently.
They didn’t really have much to say—and that’s an understatement—and somebody during the presscon joked that the two would let their fists do the talking when they square off last night at the Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park in Kawit, Cavite, for the WBO Asia Pacific flyweight title
“More than anything, this is going to be an acid test for Froilan Saludar to determine if he is ready to advance to the next level,” said Saludar’s manager.
The 22-year-old Saludar, who comes from the well-known boxing family of General Santos, is one of the country’s promising prospects for the world title in the 108-pound division, and his 12-round fight against veteran Gabriel Pumar, 25, serves as the toughest challenge of his two-year pro career.
We later found out that the reason the two hardly spoke was that they could only speak in Visayan and we were talking to both either in English or Tagalog.