11.07.11 Pacquiao vs. Marquez Arrivals @ MGM Grand - Las Vegas, NV

Team Marquez Arrives

And so it begins. Fight week at the MGM Grand. Pacquiao vs. Marquez. Here we go...

Today we had the first of 2 arrivals. Juan Manuel Marquez arrived almost on time (around 12.10ish) in the signature Top Rank wrapped bus with the fight art and Marquez's name plastered around it 360 degrees. 

Great public turnout

As I've mentioned in posts past, the arrivals aren't really a true "arrival." Most times the fighter has already been on site for a day or 2 or isn't even staying at the MGM. (Pacquiao for example loves our sister property, Mandalay Bay so he stays there when he fights in Vegas.) The arrivals are a media event staged for the press & the public to hype the fight. Normally we do both main event fighters in one day but for whatever reason the promoter wanted to split the days: Marquez arriving today, Pacquiao arriving tomorrow. Not a big deal; just a pain in the ass operationally because what we normally do in one day we have to do twice. But such is the life of working under other people's direction. 

Mariachis!

I was surprised at the public turnout for Marquez actually. For a Monday we prob had a couple hundred people lined up around the barricade in the lobby of the MGM Grand. Looked great. Nelson Valdez had his Mariachi band set up like clockwork. Those guys are very fun, playful. Hard workers too. Until I came to Vegas & worked the fight game I never knew how in demand mariachi bands were. Who knew? Then again I am from the Twin Cities where our version of Mexican is Taco Bell. (Ok that was harsh but you get the point.)

Nacho Beristain doing an interview

The whole thing didn't take very long, maybe 35 minutes? Marquez did his interviews in the ring with various media outlets. Nacho Beristain, Marquez's trainer did his thing too. He looked more bored than anything. I don't think this kind of hoopla is up his alley. 

Bob Arum, the Bob-Father

Then there's the Bob-Father, Bob Arum. Not sure who coined that but it's an awesome nickname. Who knows, he may hate it but if you've read anything about Bob, it's pretty accurate. He's the master of promotion. I don't know Bob personally and although I'm sure he recognizes me as someone who works for the Grand Garden he doesn't know me from Adam. But I've been around this game long enough to know he's one of the smartest men around. Manipulative? Sure but I think that's a skill, a gift. I often consider myself to be pretty good at manipulation too. Certainly not even close to his level but I do ok. In my eyes manipulation is just another way of saying you're good at persuasion, or as my new twitter pal Chris Saldana calls it "Signs of a leader!" 

Lobby of MGM for Marquez arrival

All in all a pretty uneventful event. Next up Manny Pacquiao's arrival. Tomorrow. Same time, same bat channel only there will prob be a couple hundred more people there hoping to get an autograph, a photo or a simple glimpse of the Congressman. Hope to see some of you there too!

Time To Say Goodbye

While The Year of Botti is technically over (no more Botti concerts on the horizon) a couple people have reminded me (thanks @jerkstore23) that Botti isn't the only topic I've covered on my blog. So I'm gonna try and go back to writing about my take on the the shows at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. I'm sure I'll do the occasional rant about my idiotic love life (after all I am still me) but I'll try and keep it to a minimum. 

Up next we have Pacquiao vs. Marquez III. "Grand" arrivals being tomorrow with Juan Manuel Marquez live in the lobby of the MGM Grand @ noon. Pacquiao makes his entrance Tuesday @ noon. Presser is on Wednesday @ noon but only open to credentialed media. The weigh in is Friday with doors @ 1.00p; fighters hit the scale around 3.00p. Pacquiao & Marquez weigh ins will be live on ESPN. I think the hit is at 3.15p-ish so if you can't make it to the Grand Garden tune into ESPN. We're also playing it live in the sportsbook. The fight is Saturday night. Doors to the arena are at 3.00p. Undercard fights start around 3.05p-ish. We go live on HBO PPV at 6.00p. There are 3 PPV undercard fights before the main event. 

The Year of Botti was a blast and a great experiment but as with everything it too has ended. Thanks for the great adventure CB. But for now it's Time To Say Goodbye. 

05.03.11 Pacquiao vs. Mosley Arrivals @ MGM Grand - Las Vegas, NV

Fighter arrivals, controlled chaos

Fighter arrivals are one big PR event staged for tv cameras, iPhones and the public. They're a cheap way to garner hype for the fight. 

Around 11.30a I headed up to the lobby of the hotel from the Grand Garden Arena, me and 10 guys in suits in tow. Those are my guys. When I round the corner from the elevator bank to the lobby I see a big crowd surrounding the ring, 360. I can't even see the bike rack separating them from the ring. On closer inspection the bike-racked area was pretty large so the initial crowd wasn't nearly as big as I originally thought. 

Fans for Sugar Shane

I head out to the porte cochere (valet area for those non-hoity-toity peeps) to get away from the crowds. For someone who hates being around crowds, I'm in a funny business. I meet up with Bo, the VP of Security for the property out under the porte. We shoot the shit for a while. He is one of my dearest friends. He used to work in the arena and together we had the funnest and crazy-busiest year of our lives. Some of the other security guys come over to tell us that Mosley is leaving his room. It's a casino with security and cameras everywhere. People track your every move. Sometimes when I'm at Seablue Bo will email me, "Hey, how's that NY Strip." He's watching me on the cameras. I just flip the camera the bird, lovingly of course. 

About 10 minutes later Sugar Shane Mosley's bus rounds the corner. Brilliant marketing scheme actually. The entourage exits the bus and a trail of people follow Mosley from the bus thru the gauntlet to the mini-ring in the lobby of the MGM Grand. He stops and takes a few pics with fans who are lining the bike rack. On one side a group of guys are chanting "Mosley..." and holding a huge red sign. Very American Idol.

Sugar Shane Mosley's bus

Mosley heads up into the ring along with a select group of A+ level members of the media and a handful of PR people. Mosley holds court in the corner of the ring while mics, booms, cameras and people are all in his face. He is an old pro at this though. Nothing phases him. At one point Mosley turns out towards the fans and they erupt in cheers. Mosley is very personable and has the most amazing eyes you'll ever see. He's also one of the nicest men you'll ever meet. Mosley wraps up and led by security he heads back behind the front desk to a secure back-of-house area to get to the media center for some one-on-one interviews.

Shane Mosley posing for the fans

I head back to the porte cochere for round 2, Pacquiao. While Mosley is a superstar-hall-of-famer in his own right, the majority of the fans are there to see Pacman. Mosley's bus was about 30 minutes late so I didn't expect Pacquiao's to be on time. They never are. About 12.55p Pacquiao's bus rounds the corner. Both fighter's buses are identical, save the face of the fighter. As I mentioned, it's all 1 big marketing campaign to sell pay-per-view and closed circuit tickets at this point because the live event is sold out. 

Manny Pacman Pacquiao's bus

When people start filing out of Pacquiao's bus, it's like a never ending clown car but x10. I don't know how many people he had in there but it had to be upwards of 30. They just kept coming. Finally we see Manny himself, his trainer Freddie Roach and the now famous (thanks to Showtime's Fight Camp 360) Fred Sternberg. The bus pulls away and we repeat the combine walk from the porte to the ring. Pacquiao too has fans with signs along with a group of Philipino traditional dancers. Think Mariachi's but female and in sherbert-colored prom dresses circa 1980. 

Manny's fans

Manny's got probably double the amount of press surrounding him. It's not because Shane is less interesting or the media doesn't care. Manny is not just a fighter, he's a public figure in every sense of the word. He's a congressman, a singer (cringe), a national hero and oh yeah, a great fighter. He's got the hopes and support of his nation on his shoulders. There have been many outstanding athletes and celebrities in the world but none that I can think of recently who have so much at stake. 

He does his interviews in the ring too and heads out the same was as Mosley - presumably. After I followed Pacman into the lobby and saw him enter the ring, I made a beeline back out to the porte because DQ and Trubes were there to pick me up for lunch at Metro Pizza. Hey, I've got my priorities straight. I wouldn't trade my lunches with them for anyone, not even a hall-of-fame boxer or congressman - well, maybe for a trumpet player.

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