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LAS VEGAS – The Celtics are in town to watch Manny Pacquio fight David Diaz at Mandalay Bay Saturday evening.

If plans push through, the newly crowned NBA champions from Boston, led by the Big Three (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen) will be at ringside to root for the Filipino challenger.

According to Pacquiao’s pointman in Los Angeles, Winchell Campos, 16 tickets have already been reserved for members of the Boston Celtics, most of whom are already in town as of Friday.

“They all wanted to see Pacquiao fight, knowing that Pacquiao is a big fan of the team,� said Campos who said he personally talked to Garnett over the phone on the eve of the fight.

Pacquiao knew of the Celtics’ plan to come and see him fight, and even offered them tickets. But later on Mandalay Bay said it would provide the ringside tickets for the reigning world champions.

Campos said they are working it out with Mandalay Bay officials how the Celtics, or at least a few of them, could get inside Pacquiao’s dressing room before or after the scheduled 12-rounder.

Pacquiao is a big Celtics fan, and in the recent finals against the Los Angeles Lakers he kept on rooting for the men in green.

When he checked at Mandalay Bay last Monday, he talked about the recent NBA Finals, how he knew even before the start that the Lakers would find no answer to the Celtics’ “deeper bench.�

Pacquiao proudly wore a Celtics cap that night, the cap being presented to him by a friend during his last day of training at the Wild Card Gym in LA.

On that day, as he saw his trainer Freddie Roach trying on the cap, Pacquiao yelled, “Hey, coach that’s mine!�

Source: www.PhilStar.com (Abac Cordero)