PACMAN in Recah

LAST-MINUTE calls were unnecessary. The grand media affair at the Manila Hotel last Friday was already a sellout even before organizers could announce it.
Unlike with his beloved President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, there's no need anymore to sell Manny Pacquiao.
The fellow has become more famous and necessary than Her Excellency.
So did Eric Pineda, top man at Manny Pacquiao Promotions, and lovely wife Macy, have to worry about attendance?
The problem here is no longer Pacquiao, the main merchandise in the July 2 boxing blockbuster at the Araneta Coliseum which Pacman has himself agreed to promote.
It's the quality of opposition. Oscar Larios, who agreed to slug it out with Pacquiao only after being offered $450,000, happens to be a certified loser.
He was last beaten by Israel Vasquez, a favorite sparmate of Pacquiao's at Wild Card, for the WBC and IBF superbantam titles.
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In order to sell Larios, Pacquiao handlers, including trainer Freddie Roach and manager Shelly Finkel, had to pay Lito Atienza's Manila a quickie visit over the weekend on an urgent mission.
An alteration of existing fight facts had to be executed.
They teamed up, somewhat frantically, to picture Larios as a certified winner, every pound, every inch fit to do battle with the very famous Pacman.
Finkel, his glossy pate glowing under the flash of cameras, said something like Larios was always capable of throwing the most number of punches in a single round.
Roach followed up with a warning. He mumbled, rather stammered, that Pacquiao can't afford to be less fit and ready than he was against Erik Morales last January.
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They did not say it. But there was also the quiet effort to tell everybody Pacquiao should brace for a possible defeat (against Larios).
Then, joining the team of worriers, broadcast impresario Peter Musngi bared that his outfit, ABS-CBN, would bring in Larios for a sales tour here sometime late next month.
Finkel, Roach, and Pacman himself. No prizefight sales team could be more awesome.
But Larios himself had to join in. The crafty, five-foot-eight Mexicano ring craftsman would be here to demonstrate that he, who had reigned long as world 122-lbs king, is no recycled old meat.
We will never know what they would do next until Larios has hit town.
Maybe they would hire Pacquiao's barber to spar with the Mexicano in public?
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Here's one Ali-inspired tip. To push the effort a notch higher, they could script a Pacquiao knockdown while the national boxing icon spars in public.
Actually, Pacman did suffer a stoppage, a rude one, when he was recently rushed and confined at the Cardinal Santos Hospital, suffering from fatigue.
Told that he has visibly put on weight, a pudgy Pacquiao clarified that it was all a result of the confinement.
"Ito, tabang dextrose ito," he quipped from the presidential table during the Elorde Memorial Awards at Dusit Hotel Friday night.
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If there's a guy who's genuinely worried, it's not anyone among Pacquiao's handlers.
It's the super warrior himself.
Here's why: Pacquiao would not be caught showing up in a recycled ukay-ukay suit for his July 2 daytime show at the Big Dome.
His poor countrymen may have been made to patronize hand-me-downs under this regime, but Pacquiao wanted to give that pitiful existence a lovely twist.
Yes, Pacquiao assured, the fight would be a dream come true, a first-class gift to his countless admirers here who had all clamored to watch him do battle -- live.
Anyway, despite the deafening sales pitch, only one thing has so far been assured. Pacquiao won't be caught coming in half-ready, as he did when he ran out of gas in his last hometown fight against Fahsan 3-K Battery at The Fort in Taguig.
They are setting up two preparation camps, first in Hollywood, later in Baguio.
Not enough. Larios had to be peddled as extremely dangerous.
So here's Shelly Finkel for a final pitch: "Larios lost to Vasquez because he got fagged out fighting at 122 lbs against Vasquez. He was a scarecrow. Not anymore. Larios would be a really dangerous, very competitive foe for Manny at 130, his perfect fighting weight."
Larios, you bet, will be sweet, juicy recycled steak.