Floyd Mayweather has a pop-up shop where he is selling T-shirts with a Philippines flag in the background.
‘I like that,’ says Manny Pacquiao with a chuckle, and then tells the leader of the Money Team: ‘Welcome to the Manny team.’ We are accustomed to seeing boxers with grim expressions and gruff reactions — wearing what they call their fight face — in the last days before going into unarmed combat.
The PacMan is the happiest soul in Las Vegas, smiling, cracking jokes, bidding everyone welcome.His latest toy is a camera which he points at whoever he comes across, saying: ‘I don’t know much about these things but I like taking portraits.
’There is no hint of strain even as the conversation turns to the Fight of the Century.
‘OK, this is the most important fight for my boxing legacy but I know I am going to win. We have several strategies for this fight. I’m very comfortable.
‘I can’t say Mayweather is the most dangerous opponent of my career because I haven’t fought him yet. At the moment it’s Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez. I can say he’s a difficult opponent but I’m comfortable and confident. My killer instinct is back.
‘I’m different from the 47 opponents he’s fought before. I’m faster than any of them. He will experience his first loss.
‘This is the right time for me to fight Floyd. I’m more experienced now than five years ago. The speed and power are still there. No age changes in me.’
They have been accused of delaying this epic for five years too many but Pacquiao adds: ‘Now even people who don’t follow boxing want to watch this fight. When I started in America in 2001 nobody knew who I was. Now a lot of people know Manny Pacquiao.’ He has no concerns about being cheated by the judges, the way he was in his first fight with Tim Bradley here, even though Las Vegas enjoys huge economic impact from Mayweather’s fights and two of those officials are Nevada residents.
‘I always trust the judges and the commission,’ he says. ‘I will throw a lot of punches and I believe I can win every round.’
His master trainer Freddie Roach is equally confident: ‘We’ve wanted this fight every day of our lives together. Now its bigger than ever. Manny’s ready. We’ve got a great strategy. We’ve worked on it together and we’re much closer now. He’s been showing me things which I like. There’s been a lot of excitement in the gym with the work he’s being doing. His level came up the day the fight was announced. He’s never worked so hard.’
Pacquiao had set fight week rolling by playing host to hundreds of his supporters at a meet, greet and singalong fan fest.
He took over a huge convention centre at the Mandalay Bay hotel, where he is staying in a penthouse suite with a view across the fabled Strip to the MGM Grand, where he and Floyd Mayweather will finally settle their pound-for-pound differences on Saturday night.
There was folk music and dancing. There were Filipino tunes belted out by artists from Pacquiao’s homeland. There was a screening of the PacMan singing the specially written song he has recorded as the music for his ring entrance.Then came the national anthem of the Philippines, to a backdrop of pictures of the mud-hut village in which he was born and grew up.
And, of course, much high-pitched squealing and screaming when the great man himself took to the stage, albeit that he took a small leaf out of Mayweather’s book by making his entrance 45 minutes late.
‘Manny’s in the building,’ the announcers kept shouting as we waited for what they seemed to regard as The Second Coming.
This was the scene-stealer by Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum after declining to take part in the traditional grand arrival of the fighters at the MGM Grand, in which Mayweather would be starring later in the day.
The rift had been ignited by the dispute over the allocation of tickets for Saturday night between the two camps, which had delayed their sale and momentarily jeopardised the fight.
Both men insist that the bad blood will not spill over into the fight, which they will approach with professional intensity.
Pacquiao said: ‘It’s not personal for us. It’s personal for the fans.’
Giant screens in the convention centre showed highlights of some of Pacquiao’s more spectacular victories, to much enthusiasm from the faithful.There is a substantial Filipino community in this region of America — 7 000 in southern Nevada alone — and Pacquiao may well have the greater support in the Grand Garden Arena.
The travelling British fight fraternity — the advance guard arrived in time to join the fan fest and the grand arrival — are split between Money and Manny.
Arum effected the introduction of ‘the man you love and who will be victorious on Saturday night’. Pacquiao shook a hundred hands before he said: ‘Don’t get nervous on Saturday. I’m the one who’s going to win the fight. So relax. It is time for Mayweather to lose.‘Just be excited. I’m excited. Thank you for your overwhelming support and prayers. I love you guys. God bless.’ The noise was deafening. And there were still four days to go. – Daily Mail