Las Vegas must have the feel of a second home to Manny Pacquiao. Ever since his debut in the city in June of 2001 when he trashed Lehlo Ledwaba to capture the IBF super bantamweight championship, people in the area have become accustomed to his tenacious style in the ring. The MGM Grand in particular has captured several of his telling moments as he rose up in weight to defeat a slew of formidable foes in recent years.
Even so, it was a little out of the ordinary to hear that Pacquiao would be taking a break from training and paying a visit to Las Vegas on Friday night to show support to his promoter Bob Arum’s good friend and Senator Harry Reid at a rally inside of Orr Middle School on the East side of town. Pacquiao reportedly left after another day of training with Coach Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles earlier today and will likely resume training tomorrow.
<--- Slideshow: Manny Pacquiao makes a pit stop in Las Vegas
Reid is in a close race with opponent Sharon Angle and could be in danger of losing the election. Arum, who is close with Reid, felt that Pacquiao’s presence at the rally would help garner his friend the victory. The ploy obviously seemed to work as the turnout for the event was impressive. Pacquiao also shared his thoughts on the race between Reid and Angle.
"Senator Reid has been a great leader in the Senate,” Pacquiao claimed. “He works hard and has a good heart. I think it's important that Nevadans re-elect him."
While the Reid and Angle duel will likely be a race to the finish, Pacquiao has a battle of his own to focus on as he will be meeting Antonio Margarito in two weeks at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Some felt that it was a bad move from Pacquiao to break camp in the midst of training and it doesn’t help that he reportedly had a shaky first leg of his camp overseas in Baguio City in the Philippines.
Pacquiao and Margarito both participated in open media workouts earlier this week and each man appears to be in tremendous shape. Pacquiao’s fluidity and speed was in full effect while Margarito made a great impression when he showed off his power as he hit the mitts with trainer Robert Garcia.
Source: Examiner.com
