Big Dome to bid for Pacman’s megafight

BANKING on the memorable “Thrilla in Manila” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier on Oct. 1, 1975, the Araneta Coliseum is interested in making a bid to be the venue for the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight scheduled for March 13.

George “Nene” Araneta, the owner of the Big Dome, told Standard Today he is keen on making a bid to stage the fight, pointing to the track record of the Araneta Coliseum, its capacity of 18,000—more than that of the MGM Grand—and the fact that the Philippines is the home of sports hero Manny Pacquiao.

Araneta asked Standard Today to inquire from Top Rank promoter Bob Arum what it would take to hold the fight in the Philippines.

“When nobody thought the country could pull off the Ali-Frazier ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ we did,” noted Araneta.

Arum, who arrived in Las Vegas on Monday (Manila time), was scheduled to finalize an official announcement on the fight but no decision has been made on where it will be held.

This writer is scheduled to contact him today to discuss the possibilities, although the inquiry was already relayed to Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz.

Koncz initially said the problem would be the cost of fight tickets which, in the US, would cost the equivalent of P100,000 for the choice seats.

Arum, Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer and HBO Sports’ Ross Greenburg are scheduled to fly to Dallas, Texas, tomorrow to meet with Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys and their new, state-of-the-art stadium which reportedly has a capacity of 100,000 and cost $1.2 billion.

Arum himself told Standard Today that he felt the MGM Grand Garden Arena had the edge in the struggle as the site of what he termed the biggest fight of the past 20 years and something that is bigger than 10 Super Bowls.

Araneta didn’t appear to be awed by the fact that he would have to compete against the big players in the United States, confident that the Araneta Coliseum had the history and the inherent built-in attractions of the Philippines on its side as well as a public that hero-worships Pacquiao. Ronnie Nathanielsz

Source: manilastandardtoday.com