Las Vegas Weekly

April 30, 2009 · 9:02 AM

Photo Gallery: It’s East vs. West as Pac-Man goes up against The Hitman

By Robin Leach

Freddie Roach, Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue covered the final press conference yesterday in advance of Saturday’s big multimillion-dollar bout between Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao and Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton.

In a sense, it was a precursor to the fight itself with Ricky, trainer Floyd Mayweather and promoter Oscar de la Hoya on one side, and Manny, trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum lined up on the other side. Manny most recently defeated Oscar in the ring here in Las Vegas.

Manny (48-3-2, 36 KOs) introduced his mother Dionisa, who had flown in from the Philippines to watch her son fight for the first time live. Ricky (45-1, 32 KOs), from my old stomping ground of Manchester in Northern England, was all smiles when trainer Floyd came up with a poem predicting Ricky’s underdog win Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

It has become one of the most eagerly awaited -- and super-hyped -- fights of the decade, and you can safely call it the "Fighters From Opposite Ends of the Earth" who meet halfway in Las Vegas!

You can check out all the specialized boxing reports at www.lasvegassun.com, but with thousands of overseas tourists pouring in from Britain and the Philippines, Vegas DeLuxe just had to record the monumental sporting moment in history.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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