What Marco told Manny

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – I’m glad we changed our mind about flying here. We would have missed seeing again the striking landscape along the way. But the long ride – about 239 miles – would be a lonely one if you have no company to enliven it. In our case, we had our nephew, Sonny (Orlando Jr.) Ramos, who had offered to drive us here and being familiar with the route, knew exactly when and where to make a stop.

We did this at Barstow, where we bought some provisions, and later at Whisky Pete for visits to their little rooms. Again there is some déjà vu here, because it was also Sonny who also drove my sister Perla and me to this city, the first time we came here.

We made it a point to arrive here at night because that is when the splendor of the famous Las Vegas “Strip” overwhelms you. The Strip is, of course, that lengthy portion of the city’s main road where all the most grandiose and brightly lighted buildings housing the famous casinos here are located. The Bellagio, Venetian, Flamingo, Wynn, Ceasar’s Palace, Mirage, Forum, and the rest compete with each other in the artistry and magnificence of their structures. Truly, this city, is like a fantasy land where the imagination and skill of architects and engineers have been given full rein to flower.

Shortly after we had checked in at the Mandalay, two of the DAILY STAR’s original staffers joined us. These were Mary Ann Barcelona and Elvie White who had excitedly been awaiting us. As she had done last October, Elvie came from Montana where she now lives.  She was in Bacolod during the last MassKara Festival. Earlier, Mayor Bing’s classmates, Nonoy Cordova and Leif Severino, now residents here, had already been waiting for us at the hotel.  Another classmate, Renato Castillo, now a successful professional here, fetched us and hosted a late dinner for us all at the Bahama Breeze. What a reunion it was, Renato and Elvie discovered that they had both worked for the same outfit in Honolulu, Hawaii, about 15 years ago!

Later we toured the newest casino here, The Palazzo that was opened only this year. It is another glittering addition to the skyline and one can walk through it to the Venetian under a very realistic “sky” that makes 11 p.m. look like dusk.

Yesterday, we had a girls’ get together and Mary Ann treated us to lunch at the Makino, a popular Japanese resto. After that we rejoined the boys to go to the training hide away  of Manny Pacquiao  where we had also watched him two years ago. Elvie, Sonny and I had “ringside” seats and watched Manny spar with his famous trainer Freddie Roach, a really grueling session that was strictly timed by his other trainer Buboy Fernandez. Then followed about an hour of speedbag boxing, another twenty minutes of continuous rope-skipping, then back to the ring for more sparring. I noticed that he and Roach were talking to each other as they did this.

Roach later said that this is the best preparation Manny has made and he is confident that he will win this fight impressively. That seems to be the general impression here also especially among bettors. When they saw each other here yesterday before we met him, his former opponent Marco Antonio Barrera told Manny Pacquiao:  “My heart is for Mexico, but my money is on you.”*

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