Superstitious Pacquiao won't take bus to Vegas

LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao is skipping the bus ride to Vegas.

Instead, he will take the customary four-hour drive to Sin City on board his 2005 Lincoln Navigator where he will be joined by his pregnant wife Jinkee and just a couple of relatives or friends.

Top Rank, under Bob Arum, has prepared a customized 30-seater bus, that in the original plan, should carry Team Pacquiao, including the boxer himself, to Las Vegas on Monday.

However, there’s been a sudden change of plan.

“We will do what’s normal and what we’ve been doing in the past. I will drive my own car and he will ride in his Navigator,” said trainer Freddie Roach Saturday after Pacquiao’s training.

“Yes, we’re driving. He’s not taking the bus. You know Manny – he doesn’t want to change things. He’s superstitious. So why change it?” added Roach

Pacquiao has taken the Navigator to Vegas since he first fought Erik Morales in 2005, and all his fights in Sin City since then. Normally, he leads a convoy of around 12 to 15 vehicles, mostly SUVs.

In previous fights, there were plans for Pacquiao to skip the four-hour drive, and instead take the quicker and safer trip on board a private jet. But each time, Pacquiao has decided to take same old way.

The six-wheeler bus, custom-painted with huge, colorful images of Pacquiao, and announcements of the coming fight with Oscar dela Hoya, was seen parked at the back of the Wild Card Gym Saturday.

It was huge.

Jake Joson, who is part of the boxer’s management team, said it cost Top Rank $50,000 or almost P2.5 million to turn the bus into an official Pacquiao vehicle for this fight. Dela Hoya has his own.

Joson said Top Rank had offered Pacquiao the rights on the bus, and place any business ads on it as long as he pays for the $50,000. But they had problems finding sponsors, and so they took it as it is.

“Nobody in the Philippines wanted to sponsor the bus because they said it was to be used in the United States. They felt that they were to gain very limited mileage for their products in the Philippines,” he said.

“They didn’t know what they were missing,” he said.