As press conferences go, Thursday afternoon’s event was pretty run of the mill. Inside one of the many ballrooms in the sprawling Gaylord Texan, Top Rank held a press conference for the fighters battling on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard. Though pretty tame by boxing press conference standards (no manufactured animosity was present), there were some interesting observations noted.
The press was out in full force this afternoon. I’ve been fortunate enough to cover some pretty big fights, but I have never seen the press turnout like we have here in North Texas for this fight. Of course, anytime you have the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet fighting, you just know the press will come in heard. Coincidently, the media food spread looked like a plague of locust hit it. One thing about boxing scribes, eating and drinking to excess seems like a byproduct of the job.
The undercard features a cadre of tough, fan friendly fighters, but most of them clearly do not have the intangible star quality of a Pacquiao, or Ricky Hatton. Though, I though that Dallas native Robert Marroquin came across really well at the presser. Dressed in a suit, Marroquin commanded the room when he spoke at the podium and you could see the wheels turning in Bob Arum’s head as he surmised what a hot commodity he will soon have in Marroquin.
Contender participant Alfonso Gomez made things interesting by dropping a Spanish rap about how he will beat Jose Luis Castillo. It was actually pretty good, and fans of Spanish rap/rock group Molotov would have been proud. Castillo, to his credit, took the rap diss in stride, and countered by trying to bait Gomez into a $30,000 bet for the winner of the bout. Gomez refused.
John Duddy had a look of anguish on his face as he waiting to address the press. It’ clear that this is a man who hates cutting weight. However, when Duddy finally spoke to the crowd, he came across as sincere and warm. Should Duddy win Saturday night against Michael Medina, talk is that he may fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
WBC President por vida, Jose Sulaiman addressed the press, most of us took a nap at that time.
The most personable fighter at the press conference was former lightweight title holder David Diaz. Diaz cracked jokes, engaged the press, and brought a lightning bolt of energy to the afternoon’s proceedings. Arum credited Manny Pacquiao’s rise in prominence on Diaz, why lost his belt to the Filipino icon in Pacquiao’s first fight at 135 lbs. Diaz simply shook his head in amusement.
We have video clips from the press conference below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsMoXBzkbb0&w=480&h=385]
Part 2
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QckeRslMg0M&w=480&h=385]
Part 3
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNBKHBPdF7Y&w=480&h=385]
Part 4
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNwC8wJgUG8&w=480&h=385]
Part 5
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVMw1-KM4XU&w=480&h=385]
Part 6
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL38b8yqjz8&w=480&h=385]
Part 7
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMXK36vy14Y&w=480&h=385]
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