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Mexico goes gaga

In Mexico, Pacquiao received a rousing welcome as a huge and wild crowd came out to see him promote his trilogy with Marquez.

Less than a week after Pacquiao and Marquez kicked off the roadshow by appearing together in Manila, where the crowd estimate in front of the Quirino Grandstand varied from 50,000 to as high as 100,000, it was this city’s turn to make an impression on Pacquiao and his camp.

Although the number did not match or even come close to the one that gathered in the Philippines, the response was tremendous as the people treated him as if he was either Paul McCartney or John Lennon and was tagging Ringo Star and George Harrison along. The parade started at the Zocalo area where a double-deck tourist bus carried both Pacquiao and Marquez for the short ride to the Plaza a la Revolucion, where the remains of Mexico’s revolutionary leaders are buried.

But even before the bus could move, Mexicans surrounded the bus, many of them hurling into the second level hats, jackets, shirts, gloves, towels, blankets, and just about anything Pacquiao can put his autograph on.

“Grabe ang response ng mga tao dito (The public response here was tremendous),” said Pacquiao later as he was having lunch at the St. Regis Hotel.

Pacquiao recalled an incident at the Plaza a la Revolucion during noon when even burly bodyguards had trouble escorting him to a guarded tent.

The crowd was so thick that the men hired to protect them looked a bit helpless in guiding Pacquiao and his team from being roughed up.

Earlier in the day, Pacquiao dropped by the Mexican Congress and what had originally been thought to be a short visit lasted more than an hour as the lawmakers jostled for position to take their pictures taken with boxing’s No. 1 attraction.

“Nagkagulo sila (Then went gaga),” said Pacquiao, sounding and looking amazed with the reception given to him.

To avoid being caught up in traffic on his way to a private airport in Toluca, Pacquiao and his party were flown in by a helicopter in time for the flight to Los Angeles. Pacquiao arrives in Manila early Saturday morning.

The stop here of the media tour came after Manila hosted the first leg and New York and Los Angeles took their turns last Tuesday and Wednesday.

And now that the tour is over, Pacquiao will head for a training camp in Baguio City on Sept. 19.

“The party’s over,” said Roach. (With a report from Genalyn D. Kabiling) -- http://www.mb.com.ph/

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