05.06.11 Pacquiao vs. Mosley Weigh In @ MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV

Photo courtesy of Jason Tang
Me twitpic-ing Manny

Today is the Pacquiao vs. Mosley Weigh In at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Weigh ins are always fun. The energy, chanting, dancing & nonsense is epidemic - especially for a mega-fight! It's hard not to get caught up in the frenzy. I love this day. The fans are great, the arena is buzzing, this is where the vibe is palpable.

Shane & entourage arrives 

The arena is set for just about 6,000. We can't do it in full arena mode because the production is still tweaking things and the NVAC needs space to check in fight camps, do their fighter medicals, etc. If you think it's crazy in front of the curtain you should see behind it. It's a madhouse. People everywhere milling about, chatting, doing the man-hug-half-grab thing. Even though it's chaos behind the curtain it's controlled chaos. No one is making a fuss and everyone knows how to behave, for the most part. On one side of the arena I see a group of people detained by security. None of them have temporary credentials. Happens a lot with boxing. Everyone thinks they're somebody. Never in any other sporting group are there this many legitimate bad guys. One of the biggest problems we face is the counterfeiting of credentials - and who is the biggest culprit? The fight camps and sometimes the main event fighters. Comes with the territory. You hope that people do the right thing but bank on the fact that they're slimy and won't - more often than not, they're slimy. Sad but true.

But in total the weigh in is a resounding success. Lots of A+ press, an even greater public presence. So much that we have to close down the entry and turn people away. It's only happened a handful of times that I can recall. The Hatton & De La Hoya weigh ins are 2 that come to memory.

John Locher mounting an overhead
camera on the spider truss

I take a gander up and see the scissor lift raising up photog extradordinare John Locher. He's going up to the spider truss to mount an overhead camera. It allows him to snap pics from above from ringside down below. Some of the coolest shots are taken from there. John is one of the all-time great guys. He is married to Laura Rauch, another world-class photographer who embeds oversees in war zones, in celebrations, at sporting events, all over. She is one of the few women I look up to. She's beautiful, smart, got an edge and thriving - no killing it - in a man's world. I love that. And when I found out they got married I thought, "Yes! Of course they belong together!"

My tweep @AZFightFan

One of the perks of my job is access. I've been monitoring my tweets all week and one follower @AZFightFan asked me if he could get a backstage tour. Ask and you shall receive. He was a sweet kid, no more than 21. He had been in line since like 9.00a that morning. By the time I got to him he was lost in the monstrous crowd waiting to get into the weigh in. After a couple Tweets we met up and I gave him the full 360 tour of the arena: took his pic on the weigh in stage, took him backstage, into the dressing rooms, the works. He was so sweet. It felt good to do something nice for someone who wasn't expecting it and who was so gracious.

I also hooked up another Tweep @Jerkstore23. He had been corresponding with me throughout the week. His flight didn't get in until the afternoon of the weigh in so when he finally got back to me we had shut down the weigh in to any more people. But I met him outside of Seablue and escorted him and his buddy into the weigh in to my VIP seats. He wasn't as young and naive as @AZFightFan but nonetheless appreciative.

James Brown revving the crowd

The Classy Jimmy Lennon Junior is there to announce the weigh in. James Brown is also there to lend his respectful hand. We've had lots of hosts for weigh ins. My favorite might be George Lopez for one of the hispanic fights. George is a regular at MGM boxing shows. He's a great guy. Very approachable. One of the best couplings was about 3 years ago when I saw George and Freddie Prince, Jr hanging out together. Just seemed odd - but that's the beauty of Vegas. Never know who you'll see... together.

After Shane & Manny weigh in the place clears out pretty fast. Unfortunately for the rest of the undercard fighters, there isn't much of an audience left, but they get to the utilitarian chore of weighing in for the NSAC. 

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