Juan Manuel Marquez fans drown out Manny Pacquiao at weigh-in
Filipino and Mexican to face each other this morning in their fourth fight in 8 years
Hundreds of screaming Filipino boxing fans tried unsuccessfully to shout down their Mexican rivals at the weigh-in for the welterweight fight this morning (Hong Kong time) between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Chants of "Manny, Manny" were answered with even more boisterous calls of "Marquez, Marquez" from the dominant flag-waving Mexican supporters as a crowd of about 5,000 people squeezed into the MGM Grand Garden arena.
"I am happy to give honour to my country in boxing," the 33-year-old Pacquiao told the crowd.
Pacquiao, 54-4-2 with 38 knockouts, weighed in at the division's 147-pound limit while Marquez, 54-6-1 with 39 knockouts, came in at 143 pounds.
Pacquiao's huge following in the Philippines was on display at the arena, with many of his supporters flying in from his home country and other parts of the United States.
With the 16,000-capacity arena sold out for this fight, this is as close as many will get to the fighters in person. One eager Filipino couple, who flew in from Hawaii, started lining up in the wee hours of the morning more than 11 hours before the doors were scheduled to open.