16 August 2015, Melbourne Australia– “Manny Pacquiao and wife Jinkee are both looking forward to seeing Australia and Manny is happy to see his fans,” boxing promoter and manager Peter Maniatis told The Philippine Times. He said Pacman also hopes “to spread the word of good faith and God.”
Maniatis and Brad Taylor of Podium Events are the promoters for Manny’s visit to Australia. A contract was already signed, Maniatis said during a press conference in Melbourne the other day.
The Filipino boxing hero is scheduled to arrive Australia on 16 November 2015 and is set to spend four days meeting the Filipino community and Australians in Melbourne and Sydney.
Maniatis has been supporting another Filipino boxer, Randy Petalcorin, a hard-hitting southpaw. Both Petalcorin and Pacquiao are from General Santos City in the Philippines.
Maniatis was able to score victories for Petalcorin, notably when he won the WBA Light Flyweight World Title against Walter Tello in 2014 in the seventh round by Knockout in Shanghai, China in front of 15,000 strong crowd. Manny watched the fight and even jumped into the ring and congratulated Petalcorin. Maniatis even allowed Petalcorin to live in his Yarraville house for more than a year for his training. Maniatis’ girlfriend is a Filipina.
Maniatis told the media during the press conference that Pacquiao is set to appear at a lunch at Crown on 18 November. On 19 November, Pacquiao will grace the screening of “Kid Kulafu”, a movie depicting his journey from being a poor boxer to a world champion. The film is named after the bottle of wine Pacquiao used to recycle as a child to earn money for his family.
This early, Filipino-Australians and other boxing enthusiasts in Australia have expressed excitement to meet Pacquiao in person. As soon as they learned that their boxing idol is coming to Australia, they posted on the Facebook page of The Philippine Times that they would definitely come to see him.
