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 on Friday.
"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 (67 kilograms) 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 Saturday's 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 11.5 hours before the doors were scheduled to open.
When southpaw Pacquiao and Marquez enter the ring Saturday for their non-title bout, it will be the fourth time in eight years they have fought.
Pacquiao, who is eager to redeem himself after suffering a defeat in his most recent fight to Tim Bradley, is tired of Marquez blaming his failure to win in their three previous fights on biased judging.
Marquez claims he won all three fights -- although two were scored in favour of Pacquiao and one ended in a draw.
The boxers were joined on podium Friday by former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, promoter Bob Arum and their trainers, Freddie Roach for Pacquiao and Ignacio Beristain for Marquez.
Organizers announced on Friday that more than $10 million worth of tickets have been sold for the fight, which is also being carried on both closed-circuit television at venues around Las Vegas and pay-per-view in private homes.
Pacquiao said earlier in the week that there won't be a fifth fight, which would put them in the class of Gene Tunney-Harry Greb, who had five bouts between 1922-1925.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, The Jakarta Globe
Editor: DailyWeeks
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