FREELOADERS LEARN A LESSON FROM SAN MANUEL
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 29 Oct 2011
Highland, CA: Manny Pacquiao Promotions held a boxing event at the beautiful San Manuel Casino in this city by the verdant San Bernardino Mountains on Thursday evening. The attendance was great and the event was fantastic.
Unlike other places where security was more of a routine than a serious business the staff at San Manuel Casino took their jobs to the max.
They were dead serious leading many to protest in whispers as the very slow and tedious procedure went along. Indeed it took a while to get into the venue, but in the end it was well worth it. No untoward incident occurred.
The security procedure was tighter than the TSA at LAX. Everyone was made to go through a metal detectors and every single bag inspected in detail. Even the members of the State Athletic Commission were made to go through the process as well as the promoters themselves including Ricardo Jimenez the Top Rank PR man who is part of the promotions.
San Manuel security was awesome!
It was heart warming to see it taught certain Filipinos that there are systems to be followed.
It was learning experience for the traditional hangers on who always tried to seek entry in events for free.
San Manuel clearly demonstrated to them that they have a system and it must be followed. Hangers on to the Mepranum, Mayol and Concepcion teams were stopped at the screening area for not having their names on ?the list.? Had someone in the higher up position in the promotions not intervened for them, they would have been left out in the cold or forced to pay the entry fee. In fact one fellow was so frustrated, he bought a ticket.
Hopefully, certain people have learned from San Manuel.
Event promoters have people assigned to issue passes, wrists bands and credentials if people properly apply for them and within the time allotted. Surely they would issue them to the proper people who deserve them.
But they just do not hand them to everyone particularly those who are only there to get in for free.
The system is designed specifically to screen out the few that unfairly try to gain entrance for free by tagging along with the teams sometimes wearing ?team uniforms" and for those who simply ignore the procedures simply because the are ?friends? of very important people
Of course it was sad for me to see fellow Filipinos being told to step aside because their names were not on the list. But rules are rules and they must be followed.
On the other hand, all the confusions and the unfair attempts to crash the event would have been easily prevented had the promoters (particularly the person assigned by Pacquiao to take care of this promotions) took care of business.
This writer was told that no detailed instructions were issue to the ?team members? and they were somewhat held out in the cold. In fact, even the weigh?in that was supposed to happen at 1:00 PM Wednesday did not happen until 7 PM. The poor fighters were all starving by the time they finally stepped on the scales. ?No one took care of us,? was the prevalent complain. Some blame MP Promotions? lead man Michael Koncz for the fiasco. ?He never cared for the Filipinos," someone confided. "Except those that allow him to make money,? he added.
On top of that they said that no one from the promotions issued wrist bands (which are traditionally given out during the weigh-in) to the proper team members much less asked who were on the team.
Normally, the Commission allows four people per team.
Last Saturday night there were many people wearing team uniforms and ?Pacquiao jackets? and telling the security guards that they belong to the team and should be allowed in. Perhaps they are just hangers?on, wearing ?team uniforms?.
In fairness however, no one told them that they can not do that either. So they did.
Hopefully, we will no longer see such confusion occur again in the future. But for that to happen, who ever Manny Pacquiao assigns to over see the promotions must be more organized and frankly, more concerned about the boxers within his promotions than previously shown.
Finally, I hope the business of ?dropping names? and ?getting freebies? to these kinds of events must be put to an end.
It is embarrassing to hear others talk and laugh about how Filipinos like to do that kind of stuff we saw last Thursday.
People should learn to follow procedures and most importantly contribute to the success of the event by buying tickets and not expecting to get in for free every time.
Funny they would buy tickets to events promoted by others but would not do it for this event because Pacquiao is the promoter.
Darn free loaders!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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