LA Boxing Examiner | Ricardo Lois
The largest concentration of Filipinos in the United States is within the boundaries of Los Angeles County. Cities such as Eagle Rock, Carson, Los Angeles, and Cerritos are hot beds of Filipinos and Filipino-Americas who have supported Manny Pacquiao since he first appeared in California to train with Freddie Roach.
These fans, along with their Northern California brethren, are the ones who initially traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to watch Manny fight the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales; their support propeled Pacquiao into the super star he is today in the States.
If you have any doubt about the love Southern California has for the pound for pound king of boxing, just stop by the parking lot of The Wild Card Gym, in Hollywood when Pacquiao is training. Babies, teen-agers, middle aged men, and grand mothers all line up for the opportunity to get a glimpse of Pacquiao and hopefully a photograph or autograph.
When the Staples Center, in Downtown, Los Angeles, put in a bid of 20 million dollars to house the looming mega-fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather, it made logical sense, but was an economic longshot.
$20 million dollars is a hefty amount of money, but fighting in Los Angeles, California means that the fighters would have to pay State taxes which are not levied in Texas or Nevada - States deep in the running for the bout.
So as unlikely and improbable it would be for Staples to win the battle to host the fight, they threw in their hat hoping to land the event and boost Los Angeles' crippled economy with a one-time shot in the arm.
The proper thing to do by Team Pacquiao? Just ignore the offer, and not insult the hundreds and thousands of hard-core Pacquiao supporters that call the city home.
Instead through the mouth piece of advisor Michael Koncz, Pacquiao made his thoughts on fighting in Los Angeles very clear to veteran Filipino scribe Ronnie Nathanielsz
"Manny is not interested in fighting in LA. I’m going to advocate against it also for the simple reason that it's going to cost Manny an additional $3-$5 million in taxes to fight in LA. I mentioned to Manny that it looks like Staples Center and he said ‘I don’t want to fight in LA. I prefer Vegas and I didn’t even tell him about the taxes.”
That all makes sense, but Mr. Koncz and Mr. Pacquiao should understand what an insult that is to Los Angelino Pacquiao fans. Yes, several millions of dollars in taxes is a tough bullet to bite and deal breaker when you are a millionare. But how does the struggling family man, who two years ago spent several hundreds of dollars to drive to Las Vegas, book a hotel, purchase tickets to a Pacquiao fight, but is now unemployed due to the weakened economy, feel about these statements? His hero, or merely the man he paid to see fight and make a star, won't make a sacrifice to bring some entertainment to the city which initially adpoted him.
I have a sneak suspcious that support will not waiver in Los Angeles, but the kick to the gut will be felt, if not heard by his most loyal of fans.
Source: Examiner.com
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