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Puerto Ricans deliver thunderous cheers for Manny Pacquiao
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He only flew about 17,000 miles to hear them but Manny Pacquiao got yet another confirmation that he is, indeed, boxing’s most popular practitioner Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
What with this Synday afternoon, being the day of days for New York’s huge Puerto Rican population, I hope all Pacman fans will join me in giving the Borciuas props for their lusty cheers of appreciation when Michael Buffer introduced the Pinoy Idol minutes before Boricua hero Miguel Cotto went at it with Joshua Clottey.
Pacman got some "love" that Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather never got and never will from another boxing mad ethnic group.
The crowd at the Garden was reported as 17,734 and I might be able to name most of the not Puerto Ricans (maybe all 734 of them) who were in attendance on the night before the massive parade.
I hope Pacman is named ‘Employee of the Month” at Top Rank for his loyal service in coming at the last minute to the Boxing Writers Dinner and the Garden card. And I hope Bob Arum doesn’t try to purloin Manny’s valuable Northwest Airlines frequent flyer miles.
Here’s a brief timeline of what went down inside MSG before Clottey and Cotto began swapping punches.
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10:42 pm, face of Antonio Margocheato comes on the big scree. There is a clip of the now suspended Mexican hammering Cotto en route to a TKO 11 victory and it is answered with thunderous boos.
10:43 pm, Margarito’s visage gets a second round assault by the leather lunged boo birds.
10:45 pm, I actually spotted two or three Ghana flags amidst a sea of Boricua colors.
10:47 pm, Final celebrity at ringside intro goes to—who else, Pound for Pound ruler Pacquiao and the cheering is phenomenal. Clearly, Manny has the respect and a lot of affection coming from PR’s devoted fight fans. (I wonder if beating all those Mexicans has anything to do with that.) This is a real show of respect for MP.
10:48 pm, Clottey comes bouncing into the ring first and is dancing and smiling brightly. You might think he was going to a party.
10:53 pm, Building explodes with noise and enthusiasm as PR hero Cotto makes his way to the ring.
10:56 pm, Cotto leaps into the ring and kneels quickly and quietly in a neutral corner in prayer.
10:57 pm, Clottey continues to bounce about almost looking like a schoolboy happily skipping rope in the playground.
10:58 pm, Buffer begins his “Let’s get ready to rumble” rap and Clottey’s intro is naturally drowned out by booing.
10:59 pm, Ref Arthur Mercante Jr., son of a reffing legend, gives final instructions to the boxers.
Michael is a former sports columnist at the New York Post. He was a criminal defense attorney and worked for sports legends Howard Cosell and Don King. Marley also operates BoxingConfidential.com. Email him your thoughts.
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