Pacquiao gunning for 'special' WBC belt
MANILA, Philippines – Seven-division world champion Manny Pacquiao will take a shot at winning the World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight title, a belt that was held by Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
The vacant WBC belt will be at stake on November 13 when the Filipino boxer-turned-congressman takes on Mexican Antonio Margarito.
“The stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas. And on November 13 at the fabulous cowboys Stadium, we’re gonna have a real fight,” Top Rank, Inc. CEO Bob Arum said.
Arum, who promotes Pacquiao and Margarito, talked about what it would mean for the Filipino superstar if he defeats the Mexican.
“Manny Pacquiao, in seeking to win this fight, will be going of an unheard of 8th world title in 8 different divisions. Nobody in boxing history has even come close,” he said.
Pacquiao, for his part, told reporters: “What I want right now is to maintain my peak in boxing and I want to be an idol in public service, not only in boxing but also a public servant.”
WBC Executive Secretary Mauricio Sulaiman, the son of WBC President Jose Sulaiman, even called the vacant title as special.
He said that the WBC super welterweight (also known as light middleweight) title was worn by great fighters such as Nino Benvenuti, Wilfred Benitez, Thomas Hearns, Terry Norris, John Mugabi, de la Hoya, Mayweather, Shane Mosley and Sergio Martinez who moved up in weight.
Sulaiman added that the winner will receive a special one-time edition WBC belt which features the Dallas Cowboys and Top Rank, Inc. as well as the pictures of Pacquiao and Margarito.
The WBC official also mentioned that they plan to include the Pacquiao-Margarito bout as part of the bicentennial celebrations of Mexico and the US.
After Los Angeles, Pacquiao and Margarito will continue their media tour in New York on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
The duo will go to Texas on Thursday (Friday) to watch a Dallas Cowboys game with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. They will wrap up the media tour on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Pacquiao will return to the Philippines this weekend to begin his training. He will return to the US in October to finish up his training before the November 13 bout.
The Cowboys Stadium will reportedly be ready for 70,000 spectators. Tickets, priced from $50 to $700, will go on sale beginning September 18. – With a report from Steve Angeles, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
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During the presscon Manny was
During the presscon Manny was very eager to have the belt and were all smiles. He will win this fight easily. All Margarito needs is the money for his retirement.
I am just hoping that the
I am just hoping that the fight with Margarito would be exciting and full of action. I bet Manny will win the fight.
Wag mong gamitin ang pera
Wag mong gamitin ang pera nang bayan sa mga paglalakbay mo. At isauli mo ang sahod na ibinigay sa iyo bilang tongressman sa bawat paglabas mo sa bansa. Ang kita mo sa boxing mo ay sa iyo lang yan at kung gamitin mo ang pera ng bayan para sa boxing mo ay malversation yan. . .
Trouble With Fame
With all due rspect to Manny Pacquiao, why isn't he in congress serving his constituents? Did he win the election because of his political capability or because he is such a famous person in the Philippines? I think the answer is very obvious.
This means that the majority of Filipinos haven't reached political maturity yet. This is sad because the Philippines needs capable, qualified and educated political leaders who will work hard to serve the Filipino people and elevate the standard of living of the country.
Stop electing celebrities in public office unless they can prove that they are capable of serving the Filipino people and have had good tract record in serving the public.
he spent a lot of money just
he spent a lot of money just to win. He bought his political career with the dollars he earns from boxing. For sure he is going to recover it. Pakyaw is a very shrewd guy being coached by chavit singson. .
inggit lng yan....
inggit lng yan....
I will disagree to you bro
I will disagree to you bro because the fight is not for himself but for all of us Filipino. I mean he can give us a lot of honor if he win, its true that he will be taking a leave in congress because of this fight but don't you think also that most of the congressman inside the house are also taking a leave for a useless reason. At least Pacman will be doing a leave for not a luxurious reason instead he will engage in a lengthy, tiresome, painful and hard training for the objective of winning the 8th titles in 8 different weight division. His win will be our honor also. Let him do his political work later and I think he has some people which will manage his work as congressman.
On side note, there are also lot of corrupt officials who are having a highest education attainment and some of them are playing around with our constitution on where they can exploit for their self benefits. I'm not a political scientist or an expert but I think for my own view which I maybe wrong that our overall political system has the problem and there are lot of politicians and businessman who are exploiting its weaknesses.
RE:Trouble With Fame
We know that Manny Pacquiao considered as national Hero due to his accomplishment in boxing , Lets give him a try if he can really fulfill his promised to the people of Saranggani.. Based on your post ( " Philippines needs capable, qualified and educated political leaders " ), what do you think with the current political leaders are they not educated ? Does it means that since from Marcos regime we don't have educated and qualified political leaders ? and because of this we don't have a good standard of living in our country ? . For me its not , the problem start from each one of us . If all the Filipino's united and have one common goal to uplift the country from poverty i think its possible ..
If we really want changes to this country , we can now start thinking what we can contribute from it ..
:)