Manny Pacquiao arrives in Los Angeles (Photo : Jhay Oh Otamias)
Boxing's only eight-division world champion Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles Saturday night, March 12 (March 13, Manila time) to a throng of fans and international media.
Pacquiao, 37, was greeted with questions from how his senatorial campaign is going to more comments on his views on same-sex marriage.
Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KO's) will spend a couple of weeks at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood to taper off his training before he makes the familiar trek down to Las Vegas to face American Timothy "The Desert Storm" Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KO's) in a rubber match scheduled to take place April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Arriving ahead of Pacquiao on a different flight was Batman V Superman actor Ben Affleck, who was also greeted by fans and media.
Pacquiao and Bradley faced each other in the ring twice before, with Bradley taking a split decision in 2012 and Pacquiao winning by unanimous decision in the rematch.
The first bout was infamously considered one of the worst decisions in boxing because majority of observers had Pacquiao winning handily. In the second bout, Pacquiao made sure he didn't give Bradley an opening to score an upset, but boxing intelligently and beating Bradley to the punch. The third bout was made to settle the score.
Pacquiao spent the first half of his training camp at home in General Santos City, where he brought over head coach Freddie Roach as well as a couple of sparring partners.
Pacquiao has expressed and has insisted that this Bradley fight is his last as a professional boxer.
He is currently campaigning for a seat at the Philippine senate and if he gets elected, Pacquiao will shift his focus from boxing to a full-time political career.
Also in town is the Philippine national boxing team who have spent some time in the United States to hone their skills.
