Mayweather-Pacquiao weigh-in draws 11,500 fans as fighters use shoe tactics

LAS VEGAS – This was an unprecedented frenzy, something boxing had never quite seen before – 11,500 hyped-up fans jamming the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the middle of a Vegas afternoon to watch a weigh-in … a boring old weigh-in of all things.

Of course, this was no ordinary weigh-in. There were hype videos and a DJ and Doug E. Fresh as MC and dueling ring announcers and the Tecate Girls (the apparent fabric shortage at the Tecate uniform plant continues unabated) and, naturally, plenty of Tecate itself, to make it all festive.

Ten bucks got you in. The hoarse voice and ringing ears upon departure were free.

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have won a combined 13 world championships across 39 years in the sport, yet both looked a little shell-shocked at the scene, wide-eyed and snapping selfies at being in the middle of this circus.

Which didn't mean either man lost the focus they'll need to win when they return here Saturday night. Or that either wasn't still sticking with what was clearly their game plan for the weigh-in.

Pacquiao weighed in at 145 pounds and began munching on a Butterfinger (sponsor alert), which came after a hearty pre-weigh-in meal in an effort to gain weight. Mayweather went 146 and flexed. Neither threatened the 147-pound limit. And neither wasted a second standing around in their shorts, and if you want to know one key that could determine this fight, what they did next was as fine a hint as any:

Each man raced to go put on a pair of shoes.

The post-weigh-in, pre-fight pose wouldn't go off barefooted, not when the possibility of size and intimidation was at stake. Pacquiao would throw on a pair of thick gym socks and sneakers, trying to get everything out of his 5-foot-6½ frame.

Mayweather did him one better, wearing white sneakers with bulky soles that appeared to give him at least an extra half-inch beyond normal. On his head sat a Money Team hat, perched up high. He was way more than the 5-foot-8 he's listed at.

"Little man," is what some in Mayweather's camp have been calling Pacquiao and they wanted that drilled into his mind as he stared up at his taller opponent.

"I'm the bigger, strong fighter," Mayweather reminded the other day.

There's a belief on the Money Team that Pacquiao was nervous when he and Floyd met in person earlier this year after a Miami Heat game, that Pacquiao was sizing up Mayweather and not enjoying the view. If there is discomfort to exploit, they were going to do it.

Does an extra half-inch of height really matter in a fight of this caliber, featuring fighters of this experience?

No, of course it's not a decisive thing; then again, there's a reason they were hustling to get their shoes on. If it didn't count, then they wouldn't have acted like it did.

Besides, it's not like it's a new trick, especially for Pacquiao. At the weigh-in for his 2009 fight against Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao snuck a pair of sneakers on before the pose, allowing him to look down on the barefoot Cotto, who is actually a half-inch taller. Pacquiao won.

In 2008, when Pacquiao met Oscar De La Hoya, the 5-foot-10 Golden Boy eschewed shoes for the pose in a kindly effort (or marketing effort) to make it look less like a mismatch. Pacquiao won that one, too.

Floyd wasn't so generous. Manny was left trying to brush the height differential off, first dodging a post-weigh-in question from interviewer Max Kellerman. When Kellerman pressed and asked again, Pacquiao finally said it was no big deal.

"I've been fighting against bigger guys, like [Antonio] Margarito and De La Hoya," Pacquiao said.

Margarito, all 5-foot-11 of him, was bludgeoned for 12 rounds to the point he wound up hospitalized for a week with a crushed orbital bone. De La Hoya took so much punishment he couldn't answer the bell for the ninth round.

"It doesn't matter to me," Pacquiao said.

"This fight isn't about size, it's about speed," said trainer Freddie Roach.

If anything, Pacquiao appears completely unfazed standing across from Mayweather. He looks unconcerned about the 47-0 record, the brilliant defensive skills, the overwhelming betting favorite Mayweather has become. No matter the long odds, Manny is his usual quietly confident self, a picture of smiling, boyish joy.

"Thank you," he said up on the stage to Mayweather, who looked dumbfounded at the gesture and tried to ignore it.

Thank you?

"Yes, thank you," Pacquiao said. "I thanked him for the fact that the fight is going to happen."

Maybe he knows something no one else does. Pacquiao and Mayweather did square off on Wednesday, too, at the final pre-fight news conference. Mayweather wore those same sizeable sneakers. Manny was in dress shoes. And even though he had to look up that time, too, Pacquiao told his team later that he noticed something in Floyd's eyes.

"He's a man with a lot of worries," one of Pacquiao's guys said.

So why worry on Friday? Just soak in the scene, bask in the thrill, let the cheers and chants wash down around them. Both boxers did that, here at an event that defied logic … all this hoopla, all this pageantry for a weigh-in?

All this for Mayweather-Pacquiao, where here on the eve of the fight, everything is everything, even some potential stare-down footwear advantage.