Pacquiao the Promoter 15 Rounds with Steve Kim (June 23, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor Send this page to friend Give us your feedback For his upcoming contest versus WBC lightweight champion David Diaz, Manny Pacquiao has not only done his requisite roadwork, he has also added to his frequent flier miles. From Chicago and San Francisco to San Antonio and Phoenix, he has traveled near and far to help promote his event. And why shouldn't he? After all, with the deal he made with Bob Arum, his company, Manny Pacquiao Promotions, gets a cut of the action. Nowadays, most fighters just participate in a conference call and the final press conference the final Wednesday before the fight. But Pacquiao has been obligated go through various open workouts, autograph sessions and pep rallies during his days off the past month or so. He's pounded the pavement like a politician. Two weeks before his scheduled appointment at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Pacquiao would host a meet-and-greet at the Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles. It was billed as an open workout, but he and his trainer Freddie Roach opted to go through an early morning sparring session at the Wild Card Boxing Club instead before making the short drive over. On a warm, sunny afternoon, he would sign autographs and pose for pictures with a few hundred of his adoring Filipino fans. They didn't seem to mind that 'the Pac Man' arrived about an hour late or that he would not be breaking a sweat for them. The chance to be around their idol seemed to be enough. "It's a lot of work, but it's part of our fight to promote the fight. I like it," he would tell Maxboxing at the Little Philippines Lake Street Park that day. A few days earlier, he and his team had made the two hour drive to San Diego to meet with the media and fans. Wednesday, which is his usual day off from hard training, was designated as the day that Pacquiao would promote his fight. "I'm enjoying it," said Pacquiao of seeing his fans and admirers, "and it gives me more inspiration to do hard work everyday and to do my best in the fight." But the question is, while Diaz has taken part in his share of the promotion, Pacquiao is the one who is expected to shoulder most of the load, so with the frequent breaks in training and all the travel, is there any chance that Pacquiao is not fully focused on the actual fight? "No," says his trainer, Roach. "He's focused. The thing is, Manny gets motivated for everybody. He's been training really hard and we had five really good sparring partners, southpaws, all new guys, fresh guys." Jet-lag has not been a problem. "He actually sleeps well on planes," Roach says of his fighter. "Lucky him. He was a little sluggish today; I think it was because of the travel and so forth and just the schedule." Roach admits to being a bit weary. Being a trainer, he'd rather just spend his days at his gym and focus in on the fight. And it's his job to worry about how these extracurricular activities will affect his fighter on June 28th. On many occasions, it's the little things that are the difference between winning and losing. "Getting ready for big fights like this, it's tough to miss days," laments Roach, who has dutifully accompanied his fighter to all the promotional events. But the reality is that if they were facing a Juan Manuel Marquez, these days would not be taken off. But because it's Diaz, who is thought of as tough, but limited, grinder who is a heavy underdog, barnstorming and banging the drums is a necessity. This is not a fight that will sell itself. Through it all, Pacquiao has been unwavering in his commitment. "Manny's sensational,” said Arum. “He’s a people person, and he is really going out, having the people touch him. I mean he really loves this. We're doing it in a way that it interferes very, very little, if any, with his training. Everything is cleared through Freddie. It's worked very well.” Of course, it helps that Pacquiao has a financial interest is this pay-per-view event. "It depends on the fighter," said Arum. "If a fighter has the incentive to economically do it, obviously, it's easier to get him to do it. But some of these fighters are so extroverted that they love doing it, even if they're not going to make a nickel. I remember when we did Hagler-Leonard and Marvin was on percentage and Ray was on a flat and Marvin refused to go out on tour and Ray would go with me on all the stops because he loved it. "On the other hand, there are fighters, who, whatever the incentive is, refuse to cooperate and to really work on the promotion." These tours are valuable because it may be the only way to entice the newspaper and general media to cover the fight. You can probably count on one hand how many of the major dailies have a regular boxing beat. “Try getting an article on anything in boxing out of a Bay Area paper. It's impossible," said Arum. "Well, when Manny and David were there we had articles from every single paper and in some papers we got two articles. Some of the papers are even sending their writers to the fight now. That never, ever, would've happened if we hadn't had done this." It can't be cheap doing all this, considering the rising price of gas, booking flights and hotels, renting out available space, and obtaining permits to hold such gatherings. "We budget for it, and we take it away from the nonsense. We found we were spending more on advertising than we really needed. And we took it away from the advertising budget and threw it into the promotional budget," said Arum, who has also planned a pubic press conference out on the Santa Monica Pier today. "Years ago, during the closed-circuit days, I would spend virtually no money on advertising and a ton of money on promotion and that's what I'm getting back to. More of a balance." He adds that, “It's better than advertising because it’s a continuous thing and it helps bring the newspaper writers into town for the money shot when the fight is being held." The cities they have hit are strategic. They are markets that have a tie-in with the fighter (such as Chicago, where Diaz hails from) and areas with a high concentration of Filipinos. "In Berkeley, right down the street from the University of California, on University Ave., we had over a thousand people crammed in a gymnasium," said veteran publicist Bill Caplan, who has been with the fighters throughout. "It was a martial arts gymnasium; David and Manny were both there. And then afterwards we went to a restaurant and we were prepared to feed 40 people and we fed 120 people because somehow, some way, some of those fans got through the restaurant doors. We bought them lunch too." Hey, now, that's promoting. And Diaz-Pacquiao is old-school promoting. “It is, just with a new twist," agreed Caplan, who goes back to the days when boxers regularly went on extravagant press tours. "It's old-school with the advance in the electronic media because now you have the Youtube and you have the Maxboxing’s and you have Yahoo! and we didn't have all of these things. Now, we have them. We've tried to incorporate the technology into old-school promotion." Unfortunately, many fighters today seem less inclined to make the effort to get involved in promoting their own events. In an era when boxers have to go the extra mile to grab headlines, many of them - and their promoters - seem reluctant to do so. Perhaps it's a sign of the times, or just laziness. "I don't know if it's laziness, a lack of experience, or if they're out of touch with the way it was done so successfully," says Caplan, who's worked with nearly every major promoter throughout his years. "Bob is old-school, Don King is old-school, but Don King, he either doesn't have the energy that he used to or he just doesn't want to work that hard anymore. They are old-timers in the sport now and they know how to promote fights. The young promoters are hopefully learning, because boxing is cyclical and it feels like it's on an upswing now. It feels like the popularity, the super popularity, is coming back." But there's no doubting the popularity of Pacquiao. "He is of the people, which is what makes him so popular. It's what made Julio Cesar Chavez such an idol - he was of the people. They would reach out, they would touch him. They would go to a bar with him. They could do all these things," Caplan would point out. "A Ricky Hatton, same thing - he's of the people. Manny Pacquiao is them. And even though he may arrive an hour-and-a-half or two hours late, they're so loyal, and then you see him over there, they'll stand in line another two, two-and-a-half hours to get an autograph. So basically they're spending most of the day just to touch their idol, to get his autograph, to take a picture with him. “And he won’t leave here until every one of them is satisfied." 135 This upcoming contest against Diaz is Pacquiao's first as a lightweight. He won his first world title as a flyweight, and while most pundits expect him to be too skilled and much too quick for Diaz, there is still a question of just how Pacquiao will fit in as a 135-pounder. "I think he's stronger, and I think his punch will come up with him," said Roach. "Speed, I think, he's maybe a hair slower right now. But he's '42 right now. Get down to '35, and his speed will pick up a little bit. I think it'll affect his speed a little bit, but his power is really good." Pacquiao says of his new weight class, "I'm very comfortable in my weight right now - 135-pounds - and I'm very excited to fight on June 28th." He added later, "I still have power and I feel stronger than at 130 pounds." As for the type of fight it will be versus Diaz, he says simply, "A lot of action; it's going to be a war." For Questions or Comments E-Mail Steve Kim at k9kim@maxboxing.com Today's Boxing Press Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums