Manny Pacquiao will not attend the MGM Grand arrival ceremony ahead of his May 2 super-fight with Floyd Mayweather which traditionally kicks off fight week.
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While Mayweather will go ahead with his arrival as usual, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has revealed that his fighter will skip all the media hype ahead of the bout and arrive in Vegas by private bus from Los Angeles on Monday night and head straight to his hotel, the Mandalay Bay.
The usual protocol is for the fighters to walk through the lobby at the MGM into a ring to pose for photos and do interviews to discuss the upcoming bout before meeting with writers.
However, while it is expected that the 36-year-old will still fulfil all his media obligations and be accessible to fans through the week, he isn’t interested in being caught up in all the “hoopla” of the grand entrance.
“We don’t need a show for his arrival and we can do without all the hoopla,” Arum said, as reported by ESPN.
“We’ll keep it calm for Manny. We’ll get a big room downstairs at Mandalay Bay, and Manny will talk to the press there in an orderly way and in a comfortable environment. I think that’s a lot better for Manny and, frankly, it’s better for the press. Why does he need a grand arrival when he’s not even staying at that place?”
Arum was involved in a lengthy discord with MGM executives most recently over the tickets for Mayweather vs Pacquiao, and he insisted that he doesn’t feel welcome at the resort anyway.
It is understood that Pacquiao will attend the final press conference on Wednesday as well as Friday’s weigh-in ahead of the biggest fight in the history of boxing as the two multi-division kings settle their rivalry in a bout that will shatter records for revenue and viewing figures given its global appeal.
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