MACAU—Veteran sports editor Virgie Romano of Abante said many readers back home doubted the authenticity of yesterday’s clash between trainers in the camps of Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios.
“I continued to receive messages through Facebook saying they didn’t believe the clash was for real,” Romano told the Inquirer.
Romano said the doubters thought it was staged in order to generate interest and boost pay-per-view subscription to Sunday’s Clash in Cotai.
Virgie has assured them everything was for real, otherwise “the protagonists would’ve not resorted to violence.”
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Anchorwoman Connie Sison of GMA 7 missed the off-ring outburst of Alex Ariza, who kicked trainer Freddie Roach, by a few seconds.
True to her calling, the lovely Ms. Sison moved in to get a few words from Robert Garcia, trainer of Brandon Rios.
She was stunned upon receiving a brutish verbal lashing from an infuriated Garcia.
“You’re Filipino, aren’t you? No way. You’re here to defend him,” Garcia was recorded as shouting.
Sison said Garcia also punctuated his slur with unprintable expletives.
“To think that he was also trying to complain against racism,” Sison lamented.
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Whether or not the off-ring fracas between trainers from the Pacquiao and Rios camps would tell on the pay-per-view sales of Sunday’s bout won’t be known until Friday.
“It’s only Tuesday now out in the United States,” promoter Bob Arum told boxing specialist Hermie Rivera.
Actually, Arum had been ribbed and told he should get a clip of the video showing the violence displayed by Ariza. Ariza was recorded attacking Roach without sufficient provocation.
Arum confidently shrugged off the suggestion.
“There’s great interest in the fight, and I’m sure the sales would be a lot better than expected,” Arum later told the Inquirer.
Nothing sells as hot as Pacquiao when it comes to full-action boxing.
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Of the 12,000 employees in the Venetian Macao, 4,000 are Filipinos, according to veteran sportswriter Eddie Alinea.
There’s a Filipino in practically all departments and sections of the vast hotel and casino resort.
Of course, it’s the same case out in the streets of this cool, overcast gaming capital, where you hear the sweet sound of the Filipino tongue in every turn. Recah Trinidad