LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao was always going to get his $20 million.
That was part of the deal that lured him to this gambling city, where wealthy celebrities gathered ringside to watch him beat up yet another pretender to his crown.
On this night his opponent was a reluctant combatant, there seemingly only to get his own big payday. But Pacquiao wasn’t about to let that ruin his plans for a big evening on the Las Vegas Strip.
He fought poverty, beat Shane Mosley and shared a dais with Paris Hilton. The president of the Philippines called, then it was off with his massive entourage for a concert at a neighboring casino.
All in a night’s work for the little fighter who can.
“People know I’m trying to do my best,” Pacquiao said. “I think they’re satisfied.”
It’s hard not to be when the most entertaining fighter since Mike Tyson worked as hard inside the ring as he did later in a concert that stretched into the wee hours of the morning. It wasn’t Pacquiao’s fault that Mosley spent most of Saturday night trying to find a spot between the ropes where Pacquiao couldn’t hit him rather than try to put up a good fight.
Hilton joined Pacquiao and his wife at the postfight news conference to give her analysis. “It was a very amazing fight,” she said.
Others who know boxing would probably disagree, but there wasn’t a lot Pacquiao could do about it. He floored Mosley with a left hook in the third round and spent the rest of the night chasing him despite a cramp in his leg.
Most fans at the MGM Grand’s arena seemed happy just to see Pacquiao in action. That’s the lure of the Filipino phenom, who continues to be the biggest draw in the sport even while being fed a questionable diet of opponents in recent fights.
Mosley was the latest, a fighter who looked shot in his bout last year with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and looked even worse against Pacquiao.
“I don’t think he tried to win the fight. He just tried to survive,” said Freddie Roach, who trains Pacquiao.
There are certainly fighters out there who could give Pacquiao a challenge and could conceivably beat him. No. 1 at the top of that list is Mayweather, who seems as reluctant to sign for a fight with Pacquiao as Mosley was to actually fight him.
