Mommy Dionisia in Macau

MACAU—Promoter Bob Arum yesterday betrayed his rosy-cheeked optimism about a Manny Pacquiao success in Sunday’s main event at Venetian Resort Hotel here.

Arum told an Asian interviewer he’s lining up Pacquiao for two fights next year—one in May, possibly in the United States, and a second one in November.

“Manny is definitely back, and I want him to be as big again as when he fought [Oscar] De La Hoya,” he said.

Arum said he was not exactly looking past the big, younger Brandon Rios, Manny’s opponent on Sunday, but stressed that, based on Pacquiao’s splendid recovery, the sky should again be the limit for his prized gladiator.

* * *

Is it true the sensational Ruslav Provonikov, known as the Siberian Rocky, is being fancied as a next foe for Pacquiao?

“He’ll be here to watch Sunday’s championship; that would be a great card, indeed,” Arum told the Inquirer.

Provodnikov, a former sparmate of Pacquiao, stopped the popular Mike Alvarado in Denver last month for the WBO light welterweight championship.

Informed sources said Provodnikov has been served a $10-million offer, which “would be very hard to refuse.”

* * *

Among the passengers in the chartered PAL flight that took Team Pacquiao from General Santos City to this city is Manny Pacquiao’s all-time chief cheerleader.

Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao, together with husband Rosalio, was among the dozen business-class passengers in the special PAL flight that carried 156 passengers.

Eddie Alinea, a close-in Pacquiao reporter, said this would mark the first time since the Antonio Margarito fight that Manny Pacquiao’s parents would be watching their legendary son together.