Friday, May 6th 2011
Arum: “Las Vegas Needs an Event Like This”
LAS VEGAS – Quick: Who needs whom more? Vegas or MANNY PACQUIAO? If you answered Vegas needs Pacquiao more, you’re right.
“Las Vegas needs an event like this,” said Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum, a longtime Sin City resident who is largely acknowledged as the main force behind turning it into the fight capital of the world.
Vegas’s mayor Oscar Goodman seconded Arum’s notion. “Vegas is back, as far as the fight game is concerned,” the obviously elated former attorney said of Pacquiao’s May 7th clash with “Sugar” SHANE MOSLEY. “This is going to be one of the great weekends in Las Vegas’s history.”
In order to show his appreciation, Mayor Goodman gave both fighters a special gift. And no, it wasn’t a key to the city. “A key to the city is a dime a dozen,” he said. So, in a stroke of originality befitting America’s most unique metropolis, Goodman gave Pacquiao and Mosley “good luck” poker chips.
Last year, Pacquiao fought twice in the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. But the eight-time, eight-division champion is obviously pleased to be returning to Vegas, the site of so many of his now legendary in-the-ring accomplishments.
“I miss Vegas – it’s been a long time,” said Pacquiao, who last fought here in 2009, when he dethroned then welterweight champ Miguel Cotto.
Mosley is similarly enthused. “I have a lot of good memories here at the MGM Grand,” he said.
The real question, however, is whether he’ll leave the ring on Saturday with a good memory — or a heart-breaking defeat.
