The Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rematch has become so hot that people in Mexico just can’t stop talking about it.
Promoter Bob Arum, who is vacationing in the Mexican city of Cabo San Lucas, is just amazed.
“I didn’t look at this fight as anything more special than the (Erik) Morales or Barrera fights,” said the Top Rank president, who will promote the March 15 showdown with Golden Boy.
“But it’s created a tremendous buzz with the Mexicans down here in Mexico now and that all they’re talking about is that fight,” Arum told 15rounds.com the other day.
The legendary promoter just can’t wait to shift to high gear in his bid to promote the fight like he’s never done before for Pacquiao.
The Filipino superstar agreeing to train in Los Angeles for the whole two months leading to the fight is all that he needs.
The rematch is set at Mandalay Bay. At stake is the Mexican’s WBC super-featherweight crown. Once he gets past this one, Pacquiao is looking at David Diaz (135 lbs) in July and Ricky Hatton (140 lbs) in November.
“I will have a lot of opportunities to do a lot of promotions with Manny that aren’t just Filipino- and Mexican-motivated. I’m going to have him on a lot of shows just so more people know who he is.”
Pacquiao is in the US vacationing with his family, but reportedly plans to return to Manila this week, before flying to LA once again for the non-stop training.
Top Rank spinner Bill Caplan also told 15rounds.com that they’re looking at Pacquiao guesting at “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and probably do a Beatles song or two.
“I can sense how huge this fight is becoming. We’ve been in the 350 to 400,000 pay-per-view buys range for his (Pacquiao’s) fights and we’re looking to do 500,000 buys on this fight,” said Arum. – Abac Cordero