Pacquiao to spend P27.5M for tickets

Jan	07
2009

The Philippine Star | 11/22/2008 2:35 AM

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Manny Pacquiao is giving away $550,000 worth of tickets for the “Dream Match” and 500 turkeys for Thanksgiving.

Yes, the Filipino superstar has admitted to philboxing.com that he has spent around $550,000 or roughly P27.5 million on tickets to be given away to his friends coming over to watch him fight Oscar dela Hoya on December 6.

Pacquiao normally spends a fortune in fight tickets and even plane tickets given away to friends. Only this time, the amount has gone twice or thrice as much simply because the prices have gone up.

Tickets to previous Pacquiao fights were highest at $600 per ringside seat, but this time the same seat costs $1,500. The problem is they’re all gone, and the only way to get them is through the black market.

Or Pacquiao himself.

“Yan ang current expenses ko sa ticket lang. Kasali na dyan mga politicians, artista at sila lahat. Mga kaibigan ko lahat (That goes for the politicians, actors, everyone. They’re all my friends),” Pacquiao told philboxing.com.

He said the amount can even increase as the fight nears.

And on Sunday, as Americans prepare for Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of this month, Pacquiao will be at the Community Center in Los Angeles’ Lake Street Park in the historic Filipino town to give away the 500 turkeys.

Top Rank publicist Fred Sternburg said yesterday through e-mail that Top Rank big boss Bob Arum is spending for the turkeys worth $11,000.

Lance Pugmire of the LA Times wrote, “certainly, hundreds, if not thousands of people will be showing up” and that those who organized it may have “underestimated Pac-Man’s appeal.”

Handing out goodies isn’t something new for Pacquiao.

Normally, during his birthdays, which fall on Dec. 17, Pacquiao spends a hefty sum giving away bags of goodies to thousands of his provincemates. And on ordinary days, poor people line up before the gates to his mansion.

Pacquiao has a very soft heart for the poor, having come from an impoverished family. It was written once that the only time he failed to give money to the poor outside his home was “when he forgot to bring his wallet.”

as of 11/22/2008 2:35 AM