LOS ANGELES – After weeks of settling for limited access, some 300 media members packed the Wild Card Gym for Manny Pacquiao's media day on Thursday.
Pacquiao kept his promise to arrive early after seeing how his May 2 opponent, Floyd Mayweather Jr., kept the media waiting for nearly two hours during his own media day on Wednesday.
Pacquiao did a series of interviews that lasted for well over two hours, and proclaimed his faith whenever he had the chance.
"The Lord will always be there with me," he said. "I want them to remember that not only I inspired them, but in following God."
It was one of the most packed media days the gym has ever seen, with members of the press forced to pack the upper floor of the Wild Card Gym like sardines.
"Ito ang pinaka-grabe," said Fernandez.
Despite the big crowd and all the questions, Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, declined to give his latest estimate on how much money the so-called "Fight of the Century" can make, especially when it comes to pay-per-view numbers.
"Your guess is as good as my guess. How the hell do I know?" Arum said.
"I just know it will be a big number. Will it be three million? Will it be four million? How would I know?" he added.
As for tickets which are expected to finally go on sale, the Hall-of-Fame promoter offered an old-school solution.
"The idea that tickets aren't on sale yet is ridiculous," he said. "Remember how it was in the old days, when you went to a baseball game, people would line up to buy tickets at the box office the day of the game?"
"Maybe that's what they'll do."
At the end of the three-hour day, one person was happy it was finally over.
"This is part of life," said chief trainer Freddie Roach. "We know we have to sell the fight. Well, not this fight, because it's already sold out."
"I haven't seen any tickets yet, but it's the biggest fight in the world and it's a real honor to have this many people in my gym," he added.
Pacquiao only shadow-boxed and did a few minutes on the mitts in the gym, but he was able to run at the Griffith Park in the morning and did some agility drills.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
