Manny mobbed in San Francisco

NEWARK — Consensus world featherweight boxing champion Manny Pacquiao arrived here early Sunday night with business manager Rod Nazario after a rousing welcome from Filipino fans in San Francisco.

Pacquiao and Nazario took a Philippine Airlines flight that flew directly from Manila to San Francisco. They arrived in San Francisco last Friday night and left Sunday morning to rendezvous with US promoter Murad Muhammad before their Monday meeting with Home Box Office (HBO) vice president for sports Gary Davisin New York.

In San Francisco, Pacquiao was mobbed by Filipino fans wherever he went. At the popular Ling Nam restaurant in South San Francisco, owner Antonio Lim treated Pacquiao’s party to breakfast Saturday morning. Lim is also a concert promoter who’s brought in Martin Nievera, Pops Fernandez and Vina Morales, among others, for shows in the Bay Area. Next week, Lim is staging a concert featuring Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco.

Nazario’s son Boying, a banker who lives in San Francisco, said after breakfast, Pacquiao did some shopping at the Serramonte mall and a Costco outlet for thermal wear to use in New York. He wound up buying presents for his family instead. In the afternoon, Pacquiao napped briefly in Boying’s home and watched portions of a 3-DVD set of 12 of his most exciting fights on video.

Boying said he bought the DVD set for $99 on the internet. The fights include Pacquiao’s wins over Marco Antonio Barrera, Gabriel Mira, Todd Makelin, Nedal Hussein, Arnel Barotillo, Lehlo Ledwaba, Jorge Eliecer Julio and Emmanuel Lucero.

The 3-DVD set, called "Manny Pacquiao’s Fights," is unauthorized and pays no royalties to either the fighter or the networks that paid for the rights to televise his bouts. The set is available from an Arizona distributor via the internet.

Pacquiao spent an hour playing pool at the Town and Country billiard hall in Daly City after watching the DVDs. He played three games, taking on all comers, and swept his opponents. Then, at 5 p.m., he attended an anticipated Sunday Mass at the Mater Dolorosa church in South San Francisco.

Pacquiao ate an early dinner at Boying’s home before heading to Oakland to watch the Golden State Warriors host the Seattle SuperSonics in a National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season game.

Pacquiao, Nazario, Boying and Boying’s daughter Francine went to watch the game from courtside where the tickets cost $115 each. The Warriors leaned on two-time slam dunk champion Jason Richardson’s 24 points to hack out a 94-92 win over the Sonics. Brian Cardinal chipped in 21 points and grabbed a key rebound that led to Clifford Robinson’s triple with 55 seconds left to clinch it.

Boying said the NBA game wasn’t too exciting until the fourth period when both teams slugged it down the stretch. Former Philippine Basketball Association imports Richie Frahm and Ansu Sesay saw action for the Sonics but didn’t score.

Upon arriving at the Newark airport early Sunday evening, Pacquiao and Nazario were whisked to a hotel where they conferred with Muhammad before dinner.

Nazario said he would disclose the details of the HBO negotiations after finalizing the details with Muhammad and the network officials. He added that aside from discussing a possible multi-fight deal for Pacquiao, he would suggest including Filipino prospects like Pacquiao’s younger brother Bobby and superflyweight Z Gorres in the undercard of future HBO shows.

Nazario said it didn’t seem likely that Bob Arum, who represents Pacquiao’s next possible opponent Juan Manuel Marquez, will join the HBO meeting as Muhammad will probably promote the May 22 bout.