Pacquiao, Dela Hoya take breather: It’s show time

Tickets to the “Dream Match” between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar dela Hoya have long been sold out and yet the two superstars in the thick of training are still taking time out to promote the Dec. 6 showdown.

Dela Hoya, the king of pay-per-view, is all set to appear on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Sunday (today in Manila). He will be the episode’s special guest and is expected to make a few announcements.

Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king, is being prepped as guest on the popular Jimmy Kimmel Live, an American late-night talk show being broadcast on ABC. It is the longest running ABC late-night talk show since the Dick Cavett Show in the early ‘70s.

Bob Arum told The STAR that Pacquiao might appear on the show close to the fight, and the likeable Filipino superstar, the Top Rank president said, “would be asked to sing a song or play a musical instrument.”

Pacquiao appearing in a popular late-night talk show is part of the promotions for the coming fight which has already brought the two fighters to several key places like New York, San Antonio and San Francisco last month.

For his fight against Hector Velasquez in 2006, Pacquiao threw the ceremonial pitch in a California Angels match, and against Jorge Solis later on was asked to appear in a San Antonio Spurs ballgame in San Antonio though it didn’t happen.

“This time we’re concentrating on appearances that are cross-over. And this big late-night show of Jimmy Kimmel should take Manny across the country,” said Arum of the show that already had the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Mike Tyson and Tom Cruise as guests.

Last week, ESPN’s primetime newsmagazine aired a very special feature on the life of Pacquiao – his rise from poverty to being a national hero in the Philippines. The special feature was reported by Jeremy Schaap.

“It was an unbelievable feature,” said Arum.

He said tickets to the fight, set at the 17,000-seat Grand Arena of the fabulous MGM Grand of Las Vegas, have “all been gone” and with the continued promotional gigs they’re hoping to catch more on the PPV sales.

Promoters are hoping that it could match or even the surpass the record 2.4 million PPV buys generated by the Dela Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight last year.

“So can Pacquiao’s “Dream Match” with De La Hoya out do those numbers? It’s hard to say. There are many factors in this year’s economy that were certainly different from 2007,” it was written on the Internet recently.

“It’s often said that in times of recession, recreational items such as concerts and sporting events are the first to get hit. The Global market is in turmoil these days, financial markets everywhere are taking a plunge and come Christmas time, many people might be reluctant to part with their cash on items such as Pay-Per-View.

Source: http://teampilipinas.info/2008/11/pacquiao-dela-hoya-take-breather-its.html

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