If Filipino pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao gets his way on Saturday, Shane Mosley will be seeing a blur of yellow at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. The eight-division world champion and Filipino congressman plans to wear yellow boxing gloves in the ring for his world title fight Saturday as a symbol of his struggle to end poverty in his native Philippines.
“All my life I have had to fight. At first as a child I had to fight just to get something to eat,” said Pacquiao. “I believe this world needs new heroes. The biggest fight in my life is not in boxing but it is now to end poverty in my country. “So this Saturday I will wear yellow gloves as a symbol of unity.” Pacquiao marks his return to Las Vegas for the first time since November 2009 by fighting America Mosley for the World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
Tickets for the scheduled 12-round fight at the Garden Arena sold out five weeks in advance. Millions more are expected to watch the fight from the Philippines and around the world on pay-per-view television. Pacquiao and the four-time world champion Mosley stood side-by-side and posed for pictures at a news conference in the Hollywood Theater inside the MGM hotel on Wednesday. They spoke briefly from the podium which also featured trainers, managers and support staff from both camps. Promoter Bob Arum said they are pleased bring Pacquiao back to Las Vegas after staging both of Pacquiao’s fights last year at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
“We had two fights in the stadium in Dallas we are happy to be back here in Las Vegas,” Arum said. “Las Vegas needs to have these kinds of fights.” The outgoing mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman and Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Hill were also in attendance. Goodman presented both fighters with “good luck mayor gambling chips”. The Grammy-award winning Hill has teammed up with aspiring singer Pacquiao who regularly covers Hill’s classic 1970’s ballad “Sometimes When We Touch”. No doubt Hill will get an invite to Pacquiao’s post-fight “Beach Party” at the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel where ‘Pac-Man’ plans to perform with his band.
Pacquiao warmed up for the occasion by singing a line from the song at Wednesday’s news conference.
