Pacquiao, Vargas hype up November bout

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao will come face to face with Jessie Vargas at the Beverly Hills Hotel today in the lone press conference aimed at drumming up their WBO welterweight title clash on Nov. 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao and Vargas will try to find ways to sell the fight.

Because of his very busy schedule in the Senate, the 37-year-old Pacquiao veered from the old practice of promoting his fights with a press tour that normally included stops in New York, Las Vegas or San Francisco.

It’s the first time Pacquiao will launch a fight with a one-stop promotional gig.

Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles yesterday with his wife Jinkee and a handful of  other companions.

From the airport, the group drove straight to the Pacquiao residence at Larchmont Park, with just enough time to rest heading to Friday’s noontime press conference.

Vargas is 10 years younger, taller at 5’10” and carries a 27-1 card with 10 knockouts, his only defeat suffered in the hands of Timothy Bradley in June last year.

Tickets to the fight against Vargas, the reigning WBO welterweight champion, will be on sale starting today, and chief promoter Bob Arum will hope to see some movement.

The most expensive tickets to Pacquiao’s comeback fight from a quick retirement is pegged at $1,000. There are tickets going for $700, $500, $300, $100 and $50.

Yes, there are tickets that will go for $50 or as cheap as the pay-per-view.

It’s also the first time that 50 bucks can take fight fans where the action is. The Thomas & Mack Center, which can accommodate more than 15,000 fans, is selling 6,000 seats for the giveaway price of only $50.

For the Floyd Mayweather Jr. showdown in May 2015, $50 can’t even get fight fans near a television set in Las Vegas. The cheapest ticket to that fight was pegged at $1,500 and the most expensive ones at a staggering $7,500.

To help sell the fight, Arum is also putting in WBO super-bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. in the card as the “Filipino Flash” takes on Jessie Magdaleno.

Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs),  is coming off an impressive win over Bradley in their rubber match last April. And while he impressed inside the ring, he couldn’t produce the numbers.

The fight, advertised as Pacquiao’s farewell fight, sold a measly 400,000 hits on pay-per-view, and was a flop.

“It’s a disappointment, it’s terrible,” said Arum.

It’s hard to tell how Pacquiao’s comeback fight would sell.