Manny Pacquiao given rapturous reception by Filipino fans in Manila

Tens of thousands lined the streets of Manila for the welcome home parade of Manny Pacquiao, following his two-round destruction of Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas on May 2.

Pacquiao returned home late last week following a government request that he stay in the United States for five days after his fight because of concerns over swine flu.
However, the world's No 1 pound-for-pound fighter was given an official reception by Philippine President Gloria Arroyo at the state palace on a day declared as a national holiday.

Adoring fans had braved the morning tropical heat to throng the streets of Manila, cheering and honking horns as Pacquiao waved to them from a truck decorated with Filipino flags that wound through the capital.
Office workers left their desks and showered Pacquiao with confetti, chanting "Manny! Manny!" while traffic blocked off side streets to allow the passage of the convoy of more than 30 vehicles, tying up traffic.

"He's the people's champ," said Danilo David, a 39-year-old government employee who filled his tank with two dollars' worth of petrol – half his daily pay – just to be a motorcycle escort for Pacquiao's convoy.

"We're happy and privileged to escort him around Manila," David said.
Pacquiao tossed red and white T-shirts that bore his picture and the slogan "King Of The Ring" into the crowd. "The reception was tremendous," he said.
The crowds were especially thick and enthusiastic at the impoverished district of Tondo in Manila's rundown dockyards, where a week earlier thousands had crammed a public gym to watch a free broadcast of the fight.

At the presidential palace, Arroyo played the part of a journalist, interviewing her guest about the Hatton fight for the benefit of the assembled Filipino officials, palace staff and members of Team Pacquiao.

"He was so busy watching my left that he did not see my right hand coming," said Pacquiao, who dropped the Mancunian twice in the first round before sending him to the canvas unconscious at the end of the second round.
"He was not able to adjust his strategy. He fights in a certain style and did not change."
His International Boxing Organisation junior welterweight title means Pacquiao, who started boxing as light-flyweight in his teens to escape poverty, has equalled the record of six world crowns in different divisions.

Source: telegraph.co.uk