BOXING star Ryan Garcia stole the show after a surprise appearance during the weigh-in for the exhibition match between ring legend Manny Pacquiao and Japanese kickboxer Rukiya Anpo on Saturday.
The 25-year-old California native appeared on stage shortly after both Pacquiao and Anpo tipped the scale and were through with their traditional stare down.
Pacquiao came in at 68.05 kilograms (149.7 lbs), while Anpo hit the scales at 68.7 (151.14 lbs) during the official weigh-in at Westin Tokyo hotel. The catch weight is at 152 lbs.
Shortly after, Garcia came on stage and played around with the 45-year-old Pacquiao.
The two even had a brief stare down at the middle and later, at the backstage as Garcia posted on his X (formerly twitter) account.
Just before the onset of the pandemic, Garcia announced on his official social media account about a multi-million fight being arranged against Pacquiao, who was then reigning WBA welterweight champion.
Photo: Wendell Alinea
The fight didn’t push through.
Garcia came in as special guest of Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the man behind the Pacquiao-Anpo exhibition bout top billed by the fight between Mikuru Asakura and Ren Haramoto.
During the weigh-in, Anpo’s huge advantage in height was obvious as the Japanese kickboxer and former K-1 super-lightweight champion stood at 6-foot tall compare to Pacquiao’s 5-foot-6 frame.
Photo:Wendell Alinea
A clause in the three-round fight will have Anpo being fined $5 million if he resorts to using kicks against boxing’s only eight-time world division champion.
This will be the second exhibition fight for Pacquiao (62-8-2, with 39 KOs) since retiring in August 2021 following a unanimous decision loss to Cuban Yordenis Ugas in a failed bid to wrest the WBA welterweight crown.
A year later, he fought South Korean martial artist DK Yoo in Seoul which the former Philippine senator won by unanimous decision.
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