Pacquiao To Also Skip Iloilo National Amateur Slugfest
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 27 Apr 2008
ILOILO CITY ? The invitation of the chairman of the country?s city mayors has failed to convince World Boxing Council (WBC) superfeatherweight champion Manny Pacquiao to grace the 2008 National Youth and Women amateur boxing championship slated here on May 3-7.
Pacquiao, 29, is scheduled to leave for Los Angeles on May 10 to rev up for the June 28 showdown with WBC lightweight king David Diaz in Las Vegas and had earlier cancelled his trip to China where he was invited to tour the Olympic facilities in Beijing from April 30 to May 4.
The written invitation was sent by Mayor Jerry P. Tre?as, chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) where Pacquiao?s belt carrier, Mayor Evelio ?Bing? Leonardia of Bacolod City, is also official.
Tre?as had vowed to give a red-carpet welcome to the most popular professional athlete in the county today during the five-day activity organized by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP).
Local organizers started to send invitation feelers even before Pacquiao dismissed Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas last March 15,
?He really has a tight schedule and we can?t convince him to honor the invitation to be present in the national amateur championship,? said Rey Golinggan, Pacquiao?s wedding godfather, who visited here last April 25.
Golinggan, 65, who will send a team from General Santos City in the amateur boxfest, said he will nevertheless sponsor a despidida party for the 29-year-old boxer cum business management student who is now training in Golinggan?s gym in General Santos City.
Despite Pacquiao?s absence, sports journalist Jonavin Villalva said he was informed by local organizers headed by Winners Promotion representative Marlon Lumacad, Jr. that major sponsors that were earlier informed about the boxing champion?s coming will continue to support the event.
?As of Friday (April 25), Mr. Lumacad showed to me the list of participating teams mostly from Mindanao and that they have prepared some measures just in case Pacquiao will not show up,? said Villalva, who will cover Pacquiao?s championship rumble with Diaz in Mandalay Bay on June 28 for MBC Aksyon Radyo Iloilo.
Pacquiao?s scheduled press conference in L.A. on May 3 was also moved to 10 days after Top Rank promoter Bob Arum learned that Pacquiao could not make it to the United States until May 10.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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