Tag Archives: MGM Grand

PACQUIAO FANS PROTEST BOXER’S ‘NO SELFIE’ POLICY

April 10, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

Photo credit: Examiner.com SANTA MONICA, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – Hundreds of fans of Manny Pacquiao — mostly Filipinos — picketed blocks and blocks of the Pacific Coast Highway near Santa Monica where the boxer jogs most mornings as part of his training in preparation for his fight with American Floyd Mayweather.

The “Fight of the Century” is scheduled on May 2, 2015 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The reason for the picket?

The Filipino fans are protesting a new ‘no selfie policy,’ promulgated by the boxer’s training camp.

Each morning, hundreds of Pacquiao fans try to follow the boxer during his morning run in the hopes of taking a selfie with their hero.

One of the protesters, a Filipino veteran who has lived in L.A. for almost 40 years, said that the ‘no selfie’ policy deprives the fans of the rare opportunity to have their photos taken with their boxing idol. “A selfie with Pacman is a treasure that I can proudly show to my grandchildren,” he said.

The Pacquiao camp explained that the new policy is designed to ensure that the boxer will not come in contact with any fan who might be suffering from a cold or some other infection. “We can’t afford to have Manny get sick even for just a day. We need him every single day for his training until fight day,” a spokesman for Pacquiao said.

A few disgruntled fans who were turned away after they attempted to take a selfie with Pacquiao said that they will now cheer for Mayweather instead.

A little sour grapes there, eh?

Health & Medicine, International, Sports

PACQUIAO AND MAYWEATHER WILL BOTH BE INJECTED WITH ANESTHETIC DRUG DURING MAY 2 FIGHT

March 9, 2015 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

1724522_1391292644467128_1219828704_n LAS VEGAS, Nevada (The Adobo Chronicles) – For a long time, Floyd Mayweather had accused Manny Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs, making this his primary reason for not agreeing to fight the Filipino champion boxer in what many consider to be the “fight of the century.”

Now that the deal has been sealed for the two boxers to meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2 this year, the same drug accusation has come around to haunt Mayweather.

It has been rumored that the American boxer injects his hands with a dubious substance called Xylocaine during training and bouts. This substance, which has a numbing effect, is banned in most states, and the reason Mayweather only boxes in Nevada is that it is the only state where the anesthetic drug is not banned in sports.

Because it is not a banned substance in Las Vegas, the Pacquiao camp can do nothing about it. Besides, the boxing deal has been signed, and there’s no backing out.

So, as a compromise, the Pacquiao camp has demanded that both boxers will be injected with Xylocaine on the night of the fight, to which the Mayweather camp readily agreed.

Boxing fans, rejoice. The fight of the century is still on. And it’s fair and square! And clean (well, sort of).

International, Sports

VENUE OF PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER FIGHT ON MAY 2 MOVED TO MANILA!

February 23, 2015 Pol Pinoy 10 Comments

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Within just fifteen minutes after official confirmation of the May 2nd championship boxing bout between Filipino Manny Pacquiao and American Floyd Mayweather was made public, the fight’s venue, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, sold out.

Seeing as how this is being dubbed as the fight of the century, perhaps even eclipsing the 1975 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ between Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier, both the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps agreed to move the venue from Las Vegas to Manila.

The new venue is The Philippine Arena, located just a few miles north of the capital. It has the distinction as the world’s largest indoor arena, with a capacity of 55,000. In contrast, the MGM Garden Arena can only hold 16,800 people.

“We want all the boxing fans to have the opportunity to personally witness this historical event, so we wanted to find a bigger venue that can accommodate more people,” a spokesperson for the Pacquiao camp told reporters in Manila.

Manila Mayor (and former Philippine president) Joseph Estrada welcomed the news, saying that this will bring millions of tourism and business dollars to his city. “With all the new hotel and condo infrastructure, we certainly will be able to accommodate boxing fans from all over the world who will visit the Philippines to personally witness the fight,” he said.

President NoyNoy Aquino directed the Manila Airports Authority to speed up renovations and improvements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in time for the May event.

Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman also announced that she has scheduled another ‘camping’ for Manila’s street children and homeless families at a resort south of Manila during the week of the fight to hide them from view of visiting tourists. (It will be recalled that Soliman rounded up street children and brought them to the same resort during Pope Francis’ visit to Manila last month).