De La Hoya/Pacquiao: The Madness

↵I’m here in the press room at the MGM Grand, where just a few hours from now Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao will be up there on the podium trying to explain to all of us ravenous media what happened in the ring and why. Oscar just waltzed into the arena, Pacquiao has been on site for about an hour now. ↵
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↵I just came from the HBO party, which was at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant very close to the arena. Nevertheless, it took me about 45 minutes to get from there into the arena and into the press area. It’s an absolute madhouse out in the casino. Fight night fever pitch in Vegas is a brand of American insanity all its own. ↵↵Like the rest of the square footage here at the MGM Grand, real estate was dear at Puck’s with the HBO scene. Mario Lopez squeezed through the crowd with a small camera crew giving interviews, getting Bert Sugar’s take on tonight’s action and having a long chat with Bernard Hopkins, who at one point got into his stance for Mario and demonstrated a few abbreviated combinations, no doubt explaining how his Golden Boy partner was going to take care of business tonight. In an impeccable suit and maintaining a constant, exuberant commentary as he navigated the crowd, Bernard exuded such comfort and contagious self-love that it almost seemed like he was the host of the affair, and not the puckish Mr. Puck, who made an early appearance into the fray and then disappeared somewhere, maybe to actually cook something.↵

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↵↵After filling up on pizza and pasta from Monsieur Puck, I battled my way here just in time to catch the fleeting final undercard bout, in which junior welterweight Vicious Victor Ortiz more than lived up to his moniker by taking only a round and a half to completely annihilate his opponent, Jeffrey Resto from the Bronx. A rising star in De La Hoya’s Golden Boy stable of fighters, Ortiz is from Oxnard, CA, and trains at Ferocious Fernando Vargas’s gym in Oxnard. Oscar used him as a sparring partner early in his camp for the Pacquiao fight, and the rumor mill had it that it was Ortiz who gave Oscar the shiner that he was sporting in the first HBO 24/7 episode. The word was that he was battering De La Hoya so savagely in sparring sessions that he had to be dismissed from camp. When you see the kid go to work up close and personal, let me tell you something - it’s not hard to believe. ↵

↵↵The early finish to the Ortiz fight leaves us with about fifty minutes until Oscar and Manny make their way to the ring. I’m hearing down here on press row that the fight will not go on before 11:15 p.m. EST. Oscar’s getting his hands taped on the Jumbotron right now as I write. Another Ortiz, MMA legend Tito Ortiz, was just shown on the big screen giving his prediction from ringside - Oscar in eight. Myself, I’ve got Oscar in ten. Great minds think alike. ↵

↵↵Michael Buffer is reading the celeb list now. Man, Oscar brings out the bling. Check out this muscle - Antonio Gates, Gary Sheffield, Senator Harry Reid, Keisha Coles, Neil Leifer, Secretary of Commerce elect Bill Richardson, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, George Lopez, Eva Longoria, Mark Anthony and JLo, Mark Wahlberg, Usher, Russell Crowe. Also, of course, much boxing royalty is in attendance, Tommy Hearns, Mike Tyson, Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez, David Haye, Winky Wright, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Ricky Hatton. ↵

↵↵Right to my left, Tommy Hearns and Gary Sheffield are deep in conversation. Iron Mike Tyson just wandered past with his entourange, looking lost, looking eternally bored. Big fights in Vegas for Tyson - been there, done that.↵

↵↵All right, folks, I’m going to try and make the rounds and maybe take a few shots of the glitterati. Don’t know how that will go - very tough to navigate this arena right now. About 45 minutes to fight time. Check back here after the fight for my recap.↵

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