There might not be any members of the tribe in the ring when Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather duke it out in a highly anticipated title fight late Saturday, but one of the boxers likely glanced at a mezuzah on his way to the bout.
Pacquiao, a Filipino born-again Christian, has the Jewish ritual door amulets all over his house, promoter Bob Arum told an Israeli journalist recently.
“All over, I couldn’t believe. Every door has a big mezuzah,” Arum, who is Jewish, told Israeli journalist Elie Seckbach at a pre-fight gathering in Las Vegas. “I never had a fighter put a mezuzah up.”
In a video posted on YouTube, Seckbach tells Arum that Pacquiao told him “boker tov” and “baruch Hashem,” Hebrew for “good morning” and “God bless,” before making a statement in support of Israel.
According to Arum, the fighter has been to Israel three times and is a big supporter of the Jewish State.
It’s not just the country Israel that Pacquiao loves, but also his fifth son, born April 2014, who is also named Israel.
Pacquiao, 36, a two-term congressman with a music and film career, credits the grace of God for lifting him from poverty in his youth and later guiding him away from a life of excess that his ring success made possible.
Saturday night’s fight, five years in the making, is being billed as ” the fight of the century,” and has brought thousands to Las Vegas and millions more to TV screens to watch the two world-class boxers finally go one on one.
The long-awaited bout will rewrite the record books as the most lucrative fight of all time.
Total revenue for the bout could reach an eye-watering $400 million, fueled by as many as three million purchases on pay-per-view television.
The breathtaking figures — a possible $200 million payday for the unbeaten American Mayweather and an estimated $100 million bonanza for Philippine icon Pacquiao — have intensified the spotlight on a fight between two of the greatest pugilists of their generation.
