Champion Boxers Manny Pacquiao, Chris Algieri Visit AT&T Park To Hype Title Fight
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Boxing royalty has arrived in the Bay Area.
World champion boxer Manny Pacquiao was in San Francisco Friday to announce that he will defend his WBO Welterweight Title against undefeated Welterweight American champion Chris Algieri later this year in Macao.
The announcement was made during a media event at AT&T Park in front of invited media guests and fans who paid for an exclusive day with both fighters.
Golden State Warriors "Hype Man" Franco Finn, who hosted the day's events, sat down with both boxers during an exclusive conversation.
FRANCO: Training in Vegas versus training in the Philippines, do you have a preference on where you like to train?
PACQUIAO: It depends on where the fight is. Especially this time the fight is in Macao, it's better to train in the Philippines, because there is no weather change.
FRANCO: Talk about your love for basketball, and talk about what happens after your fight. Will you get into more of your basketball?
PACQUIAO: I'm actually a player and a head coach of the professional basketball association in the Philippines. It's an honor for me to be a head coach and sometimes I play.
FRANCO: You been fighting for such a long time, how many more can we expect?
PACQUIAO: I can still fight. As long as I can still fight, I will fight.
FRANCO: Chris, with a Bachelors and a Masters Degree, if you weren't fighting, what would you be doing?
ALGIERI: I'd probably in medical school right now or finishing up or going through that process. That was always my plan. But I wanted to be a champion first. So I always got time to go to school, but I got my opportunity now with a small window to be a great athlete, so I'm going to take it.
FRANCO: For you Manny, when the career is over, will there be more politics, more basketball or singing, I know you do everything…
PACQUIAO: Well, I'm a politician, so I have work in the office and also focusing on my family, as a businessman, things like that.
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The day's events also included a little friendly competition, playing pool and knocking down some pins inside AT&T Park's newest, exclusive lounge, The Gotham Club. A Q&A session followed in the afternoon with both boxers and their trainers, finally ending with the pair throwing out the first pitch before the Giants took the field against the Brewers.
The Pacquiao vs. Algieri World Welterweight Championship is being produced and distributed live through HBO Pay-Per-View starting at 6:00 p.m. PST on Saturday, November 22.
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