Pacquiao-Margarito to be announced in Beverly Hills

MANILA, Philippines – The junior middleweight title clash between “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao and “Tijuana Tornado” Antonio Margarito will be officially announced in Beverly Hills, California on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).

Pacquiao is expected to arrive in the US on Monday to sign the contract formalizing the deal.

The formal announcement of the fight is expected to take place the next day at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.

The press tour will resume in New York City at the Chelsea Piers near the Hudson River on Wednesday before it wraps up at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

Pacquiao will return to Manila after the tour to begin his training camp together with his team, led by his boxing coach Freddie Roach.

The clash, which will take place at a catch weight between 147 to 154 pounds, is said to be for the World Boxing Council (WBC) junior middleweight title. The fight venue will be at the Cowboys Stadium.

Fight promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, said he expects greater interest in the Pacquiao-Margarito match compared with the Joshua Clottey fight.

“We have a lot of stuff that we didn't have for the Clottey fight. With Margarito being Hispanic, and this is North Texas, which has a huge Hispanic population, that will make this even bigger," Arum had said in a report posted on ESPN.com.

Pacquiao's World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title defense against Clottey drew 50,994 spectators, one of the largest in US history.

Aside from the Filipino champ’s popularity and the expected numbers from Margarito’s supporters, Arum said the on-going season of the National Football League (NFL) will also play a big part in the fight’s commercial successes.

"The last fight was not during football season. This one is, and we have all the Dallas Cowboys assets they use during the season to help this time,” said the veteran boxing promoter.

Aside from gate receipt earnings from the 50,994 spectators, the Pacquiao-Clottey fight generated 700,000 HBO pay-per-view buys and $35.3 million in US domestic television revenue.