8:44 AM: I wake up at the Hilton DFW Lakes and I feel OK, despite partaking in a decent amount of alcohol the night before. The fight hotel is actually at the Gaylord Texan (which is like a city unto itself) but Ray Alcorta and I staying here because, with the size of Manny Pacquiao’s ever-expanding entourage, Top Rank ran out of rooms. No problem; this place is very nice and just a few minutes from the Gaylord.
9:10 AM: I get on my laptop and update my blog (on Tim Bradley’s move to HBO) and do some tweeting. Alcorta’s in deep slumber.
9:30 AM: Folks scoffed when I tweeted that I was packing my workout gear. But get this, not only would I be working out this morning, but I actually broke a sweat the night before! I can’t believe it either. Going to the hotel gym with me is a friend of mine who came in from Florida for the fight, Matt Swider, and his brother, Brian, who now lives in College Station (where Texas A&M is located) and he made the three hour drive to Dallas. They are big fight fans, but I find out, later, that’s about all they have in common.
10:20 AM: I get in a decent workout on my chest (hey, just the fact I’m out here doing this makes it a minor miracle) and we decide afterward to get breakfast at “The Vineyard,” the cafe located inside the hotel. Brian is super fit; in fact, he looks like a professional middleweight and he has an extremely disciplined diet. He has some fruit and egg whites. Matt and I eat like regular folks and have stuff like bacon and pancakes.
Now here’s where I start to see the contrasts between this duo. While Brian has egg whites, Matt tells our waitress that he doesn’t want any eggs. He explains that when he was young, he threw up after eating some eggs, saw the yoke come up, and that was it for eggs and him. Brian went to the University of Florida and Matt (like myself) is a big Miami Hurricanes fan. More than once, I ask them, "Seriously, are you guys really brothers?!" But as you’ll find out, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
11:15 AM: We decide that we’re going go up and all take naps and meet at 12:30 to head to the store. They need some stuff and I need a new notebook (wide-ruled, of course).
12:34 PM: Before we pile into Brian’s ride, I see a somewhat familiar face with them in the hotel lobby, this British guy, Alan, who seems to spend all his discretionary income as a printer on attending fights across the world (I never knew being a printer was so lucrative). We met him last year in Houston for the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz fight and he happened to be staying at the Hilton. We were now a Fearsome Foursome (and a R.I.P. to Merlin Olsen in that regard).
“Tom Thumb’” is where we go to stock up on some beer and supplies. Ray wanted bananas. I got my new wide-ruled notebook. So before we hit the weigh-in at Cowboys Stadium, we got lunch at this small Mexican restaurant called Los Cabos in Grapevine. And no, while it’s good (I had the fish tacos), it’s not “Rafael’s good.” But we have a great time anyway. Brian has incredible knowledge of NBA basketball and we discuss the virtues of the Mexican drink Michelada (a combo of beer and tomato juice), of which Matt is a fan. Brian seems skeptical. Alan? Well, c’mon, nobody from Wakefield, England is putting Clamato in their beer. Let’s not even go there.
But we all start cracking up hysterically at ourselves as we start to mimic our favorite Bob Arum quips. I can’t stop laughing as Matt recalls what Arum said after Kelly Pavlik KO’ed Miguel Espino in December and said about a possible fight with Paul Williams. "We’ll fight them, but we don’t want to deal with those bigmouths...from Williams." As Matt pointed out, "I mean, it’s like Williams is a city or a place, not a guy." I tell ya, we were a riot. To anyone else listening in, this discussions is Greek; to us, it’s the most fascinating and entertaining thing in the world. Brian recalls that weekend they were at a family dinner back home in Florida and Matt kept repeating that line at the table. I wonder what their mother thought of that line.
2:37 PM: I shower up and I get up to the Swiders’ room and they have the NFL Network on. Yeah, this is pure Americana; boxing, beer and the NFL Combine. And being the guys we are, we intently watch the three-cone shuttle drill that took place weeks ago. Alan has no clue of what all this silliness is.
3:18 PM: We are now on the road to the weigh-in (which if this wasn’t taking place at “Jerry’s World,” would be ignored by us) and as we drive, Brian, who sports no tattoos anywhere on his own body, talks about his love of girls with tats, which leaves his older brother incredulous. "Are you serious?" Matt asks. The disgusted look on his face said it all. I ask Brian, "Even a tramp stamp?" Alan, being British, asks, "What’s a tramp stamp?" But the two brothers could not be more diametrically opposed to women with ink on their bodies.
Personally, I don’t mind a lil’ ink; y’know, stuff like a small “Hello Kitty” or a butterfly in strategically-placed areas. But looking like a biker chick? Yeah, not my cup of tea.
3:29 PM: As we roll through Highway 360, you can see the monolith that is the stadium as you pass Six Flags. There it is in the distance; “The House that Michael Irvin and Jimmy Johnson Had a Huge Hand in Building.”
3:47 PM: This stadium is huge and I have to say, I’m in a bit in awe just walking up. I get a phone call and it was ESPN Radio in Gainesville, Florida, with Adam Reardon who interviews me about “The Event.” His co-host is former Gator great Chris Doering, who never participates in our chats because he’s not much of a boxing guy. But Reardon, who I actually met at a Miami game years ago (he’s a ‘Canes fan) is a big boxing guy.
4:13 PM: I see a Maxboxing reader who drove 13 hours from Tucson with his girlfriend to come to this. Now, that’s a boxing fan. I gotta pee like crazy and I brave the elements of a rather dirty outhouse (but really, are there any clean ones?) and relieve myself. It’s amazing, it seemed like a couple thousand folks came out for the weigh-in and there was just one Porta-Potty on the premises.
4:42 PM: On the main stage, Arum takes the mike and announces that “party passes” would be made available for tomorrow night’s fights. But what really stands out is when he announces that, tonight at the Gaylord, they had a “Top Rank Live” show starring “Herman Hernandez,” which was interesting since it was actually Hernan Marquez who was headlining. Brian quips, ’’Well, Arum figured he had a one-in-five shot of getting it right,” which is true. Just go with a last name that ends in a “Z” and you just might nail it, when it comes to a Mexican fighter. We start back with our Arum impersonations, just for kicks.
4:50 PM: The stadium doors open up and it’s impressive. I forgot my temporary press pass, so I couldn’t get inside the gates, but it’s no big deal. You see one guy in his boxer shorts and underwear, you’ve seen ’em all. But geez, even from the outside looking in, this is quite the building; American excess at its best.
5:15 PM: The main event fighters weigh-in and Clottey comes in at 147 and Pacquiao at 145 and some change. Clottey looks bigger, no doubt, and Pacquiao doesn’t look quite as ripped up as in the past, but he does look bigger and thicker in the chest, to us.
5:24 PM: We head back to our hotel and we do run into some traffic. I need to recharge my phone which is quickly running out of juice.
6:13 PM: I grab my charger and go up to room 818 and, once again, the brothers had me asking, “You guys are brothers?!” Brian chides Matt for his man-love of Detroit Lions QB Matt Stafford, which is then proven when Matt didn’t even wait to come out of the bathroom to state the case for Stafford, after his shower. "See, what did I tell you?" asked Brian, whose point was proven.
Alan just sits through our American sports discussions, bored stiff.
Pretty soon, we flip around the dial and we find the HBO “Countdown” show for this weekend’s fight.
7:03 PM: Soon the TV is back on the NFL Network, where a replay of the 1991 game between the Cowboys and Falcons was being shown. And after a long Michael Irvin touchdown, I say, "OK, on that note, it’s off to the fight." Long live “The Playmaker.”
7:20 PM: We get to the Gaylord and we sit in the front lobby waiting for Alcorta. As Matt sees the body language of his brother, he says to me, "I’ll bet you he turns in early tonight; I can just see it now." As we continue to wait for Alcorta- who’s on time, when he’s only 15 minutes late- we engage in a discussion, for some reason, on just who is the best football player from Notre Dame this past generation The consensus is that it’s Tim Brown, Jerome Bettis and then, Ricky Watters).
Again, Alan is bored to tears.
8:10 PM: We finally get inside the ballroom and get seated. The fight taking place is Dennis Laurente against Ben Tackie. Yeah, Ben Tackie. All he has left is his ability to take punches, unfortunately.
8:20 PM: I see Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, who is working the corner of Jose Benavidez. A few minutes later, I see Anthony Peterson, who kicked off the show with a third-round KO win over Juan Ramon Cruz, with ice on his left hand. But he seemed to be in pretty good spirits.
9:04 PM: As I walk over to our seats, I see a guy getting ready to enter the arena, surrounded by his handlers and I say to myself, "That can’t be Nagy Aguilera; geez, he’s small." In fact, I look about his size, but the difference is, I’m not taking on Sam Peter.
9:17 PM: Peter stops Aguilera in two. Folks, I’m telling ya, in this era, don’t count this guy out. Yes, he’ll always be a bit unrefined, but he’s getting into better and better condition each fight with Top Rank and, to paraphrase Rick Pitino, “Ernie Shavers ain’t walking through that door. Ron Lyle ain’t walking through that door...”
9:27 PM: Omar Henry nails a guy early. How early? 33 seconds early. Francisco Reza was thought to be a durable guy who goes rounds, yet “O’ Henry” blasted him. Look out for this guy; he might be something.
9:33 PM: Next up is another Top Rank prospect, Jose Benavidez, who I see often at the Wild Card Boxing Club. He’s a tall, lean, lanky kid with good offensive tools. But against Bobby Hill, while he stopped him with body shots in three, you see the greenness of his overall game. He really needs to tuck his chin in, but then again, he’s just a baby. He’s got plenty of time and these Top Rank matchmakers know what they are doing.
10:04 PM : The main event is about to take place between the undefeated Hernan/Herman “Tyson” Hernandez/Lopez/Gomez/Sanchez/Marquez, who comes in with a mark of 25-0 with 18 knockouts against Filipino Richie Mepranum in a junior bantamweight contest.
10:47 PM : In what was an upset, Mepranum decisioned Marquez in what became a very good scrap in the second half of the bout. Mepranum did a fantastic job of counter-punching and boxing his stronger foe. There were some very good rounds where the crowd was compelled to get on its feet.
11:00 PM : We head out; it’s time to unwind and drink (as if we weren’t unwinding and drinking at the fight) and as we approach the Texas Station, which was the unofficial gathering spot for the boxing crowd this weekend, Brian- as Matt predicted- called it a night and said he’d be going back to the Hilton. "Do I know this kid, or what?" Alan also heads back. Geez, what kind of British boxing fan is he? Calling it a night this early? I’m ashamed for him.
11:20 PM : Matt and I are starving. We get a plate of nachos and I get a beef brisket sandwich. We both devour our food. I eat so fast, I felt a bit nauseous, actually. Sitting near us is Miguel Cotto, who is in town for the fight and he actually waves at me. Interesting, since I’ve only interviewed him a few times. At this point, he is just enjoying his time with his friends (which of course, includes manager Bryan Perez). Even when he’s happy, he’s a very reserved individual. I know he gets a bit of a bad rap for it, but that’s who he is. It certainly doesn’t make him a bad guy.
Later on, it’s like the floodgates are opened when he starts signing autographs and posing for pictures with the fans. Unfortunately, we’re near him, so it’s like being in the eye of the hurricane, to a certain degree. "OK, we gotta get the hell out of here," said Matt. Problem is, we have to wait for our check to arrive.
As we stay seated, another familiar face steps to us, a guy by the name of Anthony, who we both met last year at the same fights in Houston, who, when the bar closed shop, ran to his car, and brought a big duffel bag of warm beer (which beats having no beer) to our hotel room in Houston (where about eight of us crowded into). We enjoyed the best warm beer we ever had.
Anthony’s in the Air Force and he’s been deployed overseas before. He wants to know what we’re doing tomorrow so I give him my number and I promised to keep him updated on the whereabouts of our tailgating exploits at Cowboy Stadium. Based on his track record, we know he’s good for at least a case of beer.
Later, trainer Robert Garcia drops by. He tells us that Brandon Rios will be facing Urbano Antillon on May 8th. I think that’s a real fan-friendly, crossroads battle. I ask him how things are going with his newest client, Antonio Margarito. He says they are going well. I then ask, "Hey, does he still hit hard?" His response was, "Well, yeah, you see...HEY, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!" He was laughing as he said it, but c’mon, it is a legitimate question, isn’t it?
12:23 AM: As I roam the outskirts of Texas Station, I see Kelly Pavlik, with his pops and trainer Jack Loew, who are in town to officially announce his fight with Sergio Martinez on April 17th. Their flight got delayed and they had just gotten in. We start up on the Miami-Ohio State game which takes place at “The Horseshoe” in September. Matt and I are planning to go to the game and I think the Pavliks will be there, if they can.
1:12 AM: I’m back at the Texas Station and a group of us are sitting at a table, and Ray, who has finally joined us, announces, "I’m gonna workout tomorrow," because he bought some workout attire earlier. I just roll my eyes.
1:25 AM: Near the cigar bar, I see writer Peter Nelson, who is writing a book about Freddie Roach. We start talking shop and soon we debate the potential Tim Bradley-Devon Alexander fight. I’m a “Desert Storm” guy, as most of you know. Nelson has taken a keen interest in Alexander’s career. We make a bet, but we don’t know what we’re putting up just yet.
Then our discussion turns to the best and worst interviews in boxing (just fighters, though) and we try and come up with ten good ones. And quite frankly, we don’t get far. Most of the quotable guys in this business are guys like Arum, it seems. But Nelson tells me that it would make for an interesting article. I don’t disagree.
1:43 AM: That’s it; we’re headed back to the Hilton. Matt and I hail a cab, not too badly buzzed and we look forward to “The Event.”
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