SULAIMAN PLEASED WITH PACQUIAO?S LIFESTYLE CHANGE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 16 Jan 2008
WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman is pleased that Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao has changed his freewheeling lifestyle and is now a good family man and is focused on his rematch with WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on March 15.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today from his home in Mexico City, Sulaiman said ?that?s very good and I am happy for that.? The WBC president said he was glad to know that Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles yesterday, one day ahead of his first face-to-face meeting with Marquez at the Beverly Hills Hotel press conference scheduled today.
When informed that Pacquiao was in Las Vegas with his wife Jinkee and their three children for a vacation during New Year and according to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum didn?t gamble even five cents on a slot machine, Sulaiman said ?that is great and I am glad to hear he is focused on this fight. ?
Sulaiman noted that "over here the news was that Manny was just fooling around" even as he inquired about his training and his flight to the US.
The WBC president said Marquez ?has been training like never before and is completely away from society? ever since he began and even trained during the Christmas season. Sulaiman predicted ?this is going to be a great fight.?
Arum told us he noticed during Pacquiao?s recent visit with his family that he was ?very focused? and arriving in LA two months before the fight would allow him eight weeks of solid training.
Arum was overjoyed over the response to the rematch titled ?Unfinished Business.? He said the ticket sales were like ?never before? pointing out that out of the 12,000 seats available only about 2,000 would be left after the press conference today.
Arum said he was especially pleased that Pacquiao?s family life had settled down and recalled ?I was with him when he bought a birthday gift for Jinkee. It was a lovely gift.?
The astute promoter said Pacquiao is ?apparently well motivated? because he has a great future ahead of him. A win over Marquez would mean a WBC title fight against lightweight champion David Diaz possibly in Macau and then a 140 pound showdown with Ricky ?The Hitman? Hatton in November.
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