Boxing News 2014: Pacquiao Charters 2 Jets For Macau Bout; ‘Hexer’ Mum Dionesia Included In Entourage Of 300
The entire family of Filipino boxing champ left the Philippines on Monday to watch their patriarch, boxer Manny Pacquiao, defend his WBO welterweight title from American boxer Chris Algieri. The match is scheduled on Nov 22 at the Cotai Arena in Macau.
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Pacquiao chartered two Airbus jets with his family members, childhood friends and former neighbours in his hometown of General Santos Province. Pacquiao paid not only for the plane tickets of his entourage, but also shouldered their hotel stay and food.
It is the first time that Pacquiao brought all his five kids by wife Jinkee, the vice governor of Sarangani Province, to watch him fight overseas. In previous fights, only Jinkee or Pacquiao's mother, Dionesia, watched his fights abroad.
In the past, the kids - Emmanuel Jr., Michael, Princess, Queen Elizabeth and Israel - stayed at their family mansion in Pacquiao's General Santos City or Laguna. His equally famous mother, Dionesia, is also in the entourage, including her 40-year-old boyfriend, although she had in the past opted to lock herself in a room and intercede for her son's fight while the rest of the family and guests watched the bout from a giant screen.
At Pacquiao's last fight against Timothy Bradley, his mum caught the attention of international media because of her way of interceding for Manny's victory which appears like she was casting a hex over her son's opponent.
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The inclusion of Dionesia, who is in her 60s, and her much younger boyfriend indicates the rift between boxer and mother has been healed. Pacquiao is known to have previously opposed to his mother, who is separated from Pacquiao's father, entering into a relationship for fear that suitors would only be after the Pacquiao wealth.
While Team Pacquiao has 300 members, in contrast, Team Algieri only has one-tenth of that number, having only 30 people as part of his entourage. It highlights the difference not only in the stature of the two opponents inside the boxing ring but also in their private lives.
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