2009 04/29-05/05

MANILA MAIL COMMUNITY

Will he win again? Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao as he appears solo on the cover of the March, 2009 issue of THE RING Magazine, the Bible of Boxing. This is his 2nd appearnace on the famed mag's cover.

A Lesson in Excellence. Despite her successes, Sarah Geronimo will seek further excellence by taking vocal coaching from a Hollywood great this week, before heading home to Manila this Wednesday, after a very successful 13-city US Concert Tour that ended in San Diego last Friday.

Wills Ocampo with Charlie Greene during their concert in Reno, NV.

Pacquiao To Do It Again

All Roads Lead To Vegas This Weekend

It’s confirmed – this column will be at the front/center of it all this Saturday as the Philippine’s Biggest Pride (he was quoted as saying ‘I can fight everyday!’ after being told that the guerillas in the Southern Philippines stop firing guns just to watch his fights), Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao battles what he considers his toughest fight of his boxing career – Ricky Hatton (he is undefeated at 140 lbs) at the MGM Grand Arena, as we got our Media Credentials sent to us last Thursday, April 23^rd by the people representing Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, MGM Grand and HBO (they’re the ones to reap the record millions of dollars this event is going to rake in, hehehe).

The May 2^nd fight, billed as “BATTLE OF EAST AND WEST” has a busy schedule this week (according to a media brief that was sent to us), starting at the ‘Fighter Arrival’ ceremonies on Tuesday, April 28, beginning with Manny Pacquiao at the Mandalay Bay main entrance at noon, followed by Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand front desk area at 1:30 p.m.

Ricky Hatton will then do a workout session open to the news media in the Grand Garden Arena. A satellite media center is located in Studio Room 9 inside the Grand Garden Arena from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for those covering the arrivals or workout.

Wednesday, April 29 the permanent Media Center opens at 9 a.m. in Studio A&B and is also the location of the main event News Conference at 12:30 p.m., preceded by a media brunch at 11:30 a.m.

Thursday, April 30 media opportunities include an under-card News Conference at 11:30 a.m., and Trainer Roundtable interviews at 12:30 p.m.

The official Weigh-In will take place Friday, May 1 in the Grand Garden Arena (this event is normally media-heavy and front-page material).

On fight day, Saturday, May 2^nd, doors open to the public at 1 p.m., the first TV bout on the scales at 2:30 p.m. with the main event on the scale approximately 3:00 p.m.

All roads surely will lead to Las Vegas this week as the hype on the Pacquiao vs Hatton culminates this Saturday to hopefully what all we wanted to see – Manny letting his fists do the talking in the ring as what he did to De La Hoya in his most recent triumphant fight. High-profile celebrities and media personalities from all over the world are expected to fly and troop to Vegas to personally witness this historic event.

According to Manny, as quoted by media outlets, in assessing the competition, "Ricky Hatton is a different kind of fighter than I have been fighting before. He's a good fighter and a strong fighter. I expect him to be in 100 percent condition. He has a lot of energy and throws a lot of punches. He has a strong left hand, so we have studied that and prepared for that," the 30-year-old added.

Pacquiao has been watching videos of Hatton’s previous fights and has a plan that will neutralize him. He won’t divulge that technique but promises that ‘it will surprise you’.

He showed the world who is the ‘King of the Ring’ by outclassing 10 times world champion Oscar De La Hoya in December.

According to published reports, Promoter Bob Arum believes the Filipino now merits consideration as one of the greatest fighters ever.

"I personally have never seen such explosiveness combined with speed in all my years of boxing," said Arum, who has promoted boxing greats such as Marvin Hagler, Floyd Mayweather Jr and De La Hoya.

"I believe Manny's body of work establishes him as one of the best fighters in the history of boxing."

And here is my personal assessment - Pacquiao not just wins but he always win in the grandest style and this one will be just like the others.

It’s written in the stars.

Go, go, go, Manny!

SEEN IN THE CITY

Sarah Packs San Diego Concert, too!

Sarah Geronimo: The Next One US Concert Tour officially ended and very successfully as it’s 13^thcity performance culminated at the very scenic San Diego Convention Center last Friday, April 24^th with close to 3,000 attendees almost filling up the huge venue. I have seen this show 3 times now and to summarize it all – Sarah had never faltered on her notes, had always been serious on her craft and exhibited maturity in her vocal stylings and showmanship. She’s gone Diva’ish. And in a good way. According to some people in her entourage, she will stay a couple of more days for a professional voice lesson (what does she need that for??? I asked). She’s that dead serious on her craft she hired a Hollywood pro (who apparently coached heavyweights, the likes of Michael Jackson, et al) to further enhance her vocal skills. Congratulations to my dear friend, Filipinas Achacoso (and husband James) of the City of Tracy who produced the San Diego event for her huge success. Perseverance does pay and sometimes it pays in 6 digits, hehehe.

An interesting side note though, is worth writing about, that happened that Friday. Mark Bautista dedicated his performance to a follower, Amy G. And who is Amy G???

As gathered collectively from Mark’s speech and from the Facebook story of a co-follower, Kimberlyann, which I am publishing in verbatim, below:

“Today we should take time to mourn the loss of a very very special Team Mark member. Amy G. was someone who admired our very own Pop Heartthrob Mark Bautista. Amy was special she wasn’t just a normal fan; she was born with a condition of Down syndrome and also was a “blue baby” which is basically an infant born with a congenital heart defect. Amy was full blooded Irish; she had no Filipino blood in her at all. But almost a year and a half ago Amy’s mother Grace was changing the TV channel for Amy because she was having one of her tantrums (that triggers out of nowhere) and they happen to see Mark Bautista performing on ASAP which suddenly made Amy calm down. Therefore Mark was essentially an instrument that tranquil Amy during her tantrums. Amy was a big fan and was so excited to see Mark perform live and actually get a chance to meet Mark. But unfortunately during the concert day in San Francisco on March 28, 2009, Amy was discriminated against by a security guard saying “look here comes a retard” and then Amy and Grace were rejected by the same security guard because they were 30 minutes late even though they bought VIP tickets. So when Amy heard the guard say that she couldn’t come in Amy had a tantrum that lead her to the emergency room that same night; and because of what happened with the all the excitement and then bring her hopes down, her heart was agitated. Her condition was so bad that after just a few days she had to have open heart surgery which left her comatose because of some kind of complication. As a result this Friday April 24, 2009, Amy had passed away at the age of 22, around 3am and I was informed by her mother around 11am the same day. Grace had one request and it was for Mark to dedicate one of his songs to Amy and have it reordered for her to be played during Amy’s memorial services. Mark had no problem with that he was more than happy to do it. Mark dedicated his medley to Amy that night; actually before he started his medley he gave a brief summary of what had happened to Amy which made his performance unforgettable even though he was sick that evening. I’m not exaggerating, but so many people were touched by his choice of words during the time he was mentioning Amy and how much passion and emotion he had during his performance. I was in the middle of the aisle on my knees recording his performance and I can hear and see people crying and just speechless during his performance around me. After the show, down at the lobby I can hear people talking about how great Mark’s performance was (no offense to Sarah we all love her and she’s great) but Mark was the highlight of that show… Mark totally ended “Sarah the Next One US Concert tour”….with a big BANG! And we should all be proud of him for doing everything he can do just to show how much he cares for his fans even though they have never met before and basically we should be proud because what he did wasn’t easy. Anyways we all know she’s in a better place now but please let all of us take some time to pray for Amy to rest in peace. "

Thank You

♥ Kimberlyann ♥

TO-BE-SEEN IN THE CITY

Vina Morales Gives Birth

Whew! April 24^th was very productive as Vina Morales gives birth to her first – a baby girl named CEANA. The very pretty baby greeted this world at 6.9 lbs at the famed Cardinal Santos Hospital in the Philippines at local time 8:47a.m. Saturday, April 25^th. Her San Jose-based aunt, Yoly Ganrones happily shared us the very good news via text. According to Yoly, Vina and Ceana are due to visit San Jose soon (she had one of her numerous baby showers there) to spend some quality time with relatives.

PERSONAL NOTES

When in Reno , go to El Dorado !

I had the fortunate chance of staying a couple of days at Reno ’s gem of a hotel about two weeks ago, the El Dorado Hotel Casino. My suite was bigger than normal but its earth-tone colored decoration I find soothing and relaxing than the other hotels. They are not loud, not over the top. There was an HD plasma TV (gone are the days of elephant-sized TVs) attractively wall-perched just between the kitchen and the bedroom area, for easy viewing/access. Unique to itself, is its convenient one-roof hook-up to the Silver Legacy and Circus Circus hotels, you don’t have to leave the comforts of its air-conditioned and slot-machine laden connecting halls to get your family to that flying trapeze circus or to the newly-renovated buffet restaurant of El Dorado.

But the one that I remembered most is the consistent warmth of the guest services, from the lobby personnel to the dining area waitresses up to the room service people. They made our stay an experience we can recall with a wide smile.

Manila Mail wishes to express its special kudos to Mr. Rick Murdock, El Dorado ’s Casino Marketing Head and the pretty waitresses I met - Juls Kamm, Rhea Tran, Erika Carpio and Miss Marie Alvarez (a very pretty Filipina former Raiderette/model/beauty queen).

The El Dorado Hotel Casino is located in the heart of Downtown Reno, just 3 miles west of the Reno Tahoe International Airport , off of the I-80 Sierra Street exit between 4th and Virginia Street . Its exact address is:

El Dorado Hotel Casino

345 N. Virginia St.

Reno, NV 89501

Toll-Free Reservations (800) 879-8879

Any chance you’re going to Reno this weekend or the next? Go check out and check in at El Dorado Hotel Casino!

This column appears online also at www.ManilaMailCommunityNews.blogspot.com

Do you have any personal or community events you want announced? Just email them to bradford_adkins@yahoo.com