Pacquiao entourage flies to KL today
Manny Pacquiao and his horde of supporters, including family members and friends, will fly to Kuala Lumpur today from General Santos City.
His title fight against WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse takes place Sunday (Manila time) at the 15,000-seat Axiata Arena.
Pacquiao caps his training with a quick visit to the gym, and based on the itinerary, which changes by the minute, he departs mid-afternoon on a chartered plane.
When he gets to the Malaysian capital, just three hours 45 minutes away, Pacquiao will have to spend less time at the gym. The hard work is done.
He will simply go through the motions in the next three to four days leading to the official weigh- in on Saturday and the fight itself.
Matthysse arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Los Angeles last Thursday, accompanied by just a handful, including his trainer, Joel Diaz.
The champion from Argentina was in no mood to kill time, putting on his training gear and heading straight to gym just hours upon his arrival.
Matthysse said there’s no point comparing Pacquiao with the four boxers who have dealt him his only defeats inside the ring.
Pacquiao, he said, is a legend.
“Manny Pacquiao. I want to defeat a legendary fighter like Manny,” he told MP Promotions media officer Winchell Campos.
“This is not (Zab) Judah, (Devon) Alexander, (Viktor)
Postol or (Danny) Garcia,” Matthysse added.
The Argentine is billeted at the Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur, where Pacquiao will also stay.
Arnold Vegafria, sales and marketing head of MP Promotions, said 300 rooms in the hotel have been blocked off for the biggest boxing event in Malaysia since a Muhammad Ali fight in 1975.
There’s more knocking on the doors.