Saving electricity for Pacquiao
To make up for the anticipated 2 megawatt power deficit expected during the bout, the Philippine electric company has already gained agreements from malls, hotels and departments stores that they will run on their own generators leading up to and during the fight.
Pacquiao has put the country on the sporting map and is more than just a fighter; in fact, he is so revered that during his fights crime in the country drops dramatically as criminals can’t tear themselves away from a TV to commit it. So the concern is genuine.
“If it is just for the Pacquiao fight, let us just leave electric fans and TVs on,” Rante Ramos of the country’s Palawan Electric Cooperative said. “We have waited so long for this, and now that it will happen it is unacceptable not to have the opportunity to watch it.”
At 12 rounds at three minutes per with a one minute break in-between, a boxing match is not overlong (though physically the most demanding of sports) but there will be an extended drain on power. The first undercard starts five hours before the main bout (schedules tend to fall behind in boxing) so there will be a steady drain for hours, peaking during the main bout.
Manny Pacquiao: national hero
The long-anticipated Pacquiao vs. Mayweather main feature is supposed to start at 8 p.m. Las Vegas time Saturday night. Time in Manila is 15 hours ahead, so it starts there on Sunday at 11 p.m. Many Filipinos will begin their morning in church and end it watching Manny Pacquiao step into the ring with Mayweather.
Senator Ralph Recto said at the end of February when the bout was announced that there would be danger of parts of the country losing power during the fight. At the time he said that if power were to go off citizens would be so angry that politicians would become “‘punching bags.”
In addition to being boxing’s only fighter to have won in 8 divisions and one of the best pound for pound fighters in history, Pacquiao is a congressman, a great contributor to charity and a singer who records songs to honor his country. The 36-year-old is a national hero in the Philippines and many believe he will one day be its president.
Beating arch-rival Mayweather, 47-0, would be seen as the crowning achievement of Pacquiao’s long and distinguished career.
