By Ronnie Nathanielsz
SOLAR Entertainment Corporation, which holds the exclusive rights for television and all other platforms for the “Battle for Greatness” in the Philippines between eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao and unbeaten pound-for-pound No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. has named the TV panel that will cover the fight from special ringside at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 3 (Manila time).
Solar Entertainment Corporation president and CEO Wilson Tieng named veteran sports broadcaster and Philippine Star columnist Joaquin “Quinito” Henson, who will be alongside knowledgeable boxing man Mike Ochosa as analysts, while this reporter will serve as anchorman of the coverage.
The meeting of the TV panel last Thursday was presided over by Solar’s Network Development and Acquisitions Director Paolo Diaz, who laid down specific guidelines for the historic multi-network telecast by Solar over ABS-CBN Channel 2, GMA7, which has telecast the Manny Pacquiao fights since his first encounter against Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003, and TV 5.
The “Battle for Greatness” will see Henson and this writer, who covered many of Pacquiao’s early fights on the weekly show “Blow by Blow,” where the Filipino icon made a name for himself, reunited for the first time since we covered Pacquiao’s first world title victory when he grabbed the World Boxing Council flyweight crown with an eighth-round knockout of Thai hero Chatchai Sasakul on the outskirts of Bangkok on Dec. 3, 1998.
Sasakul recently visited Pacquiao during training at the Wild Card Gym to wish him the best in his battle with Mayweather Jr.