There’s nothing quite like an insider’s perspective.

When
taking a look at the life of aspiring Las Vegas amateur boxer Ryan
‘The Rhino’ Bates, you will sense a man who has much more
to him that meets the eye. Not only is Bates a fighter with
championship dreams, he is also a correspondent for 411Mania.com and
has spent some time in the past working for the biggest promotional
company in the industry, Top Rank.

During his time within the
company Bates worked directly under Top Rank’s head public
relations man, Lee Samuels. From helping organize huge events at the
MGM Grand to assisting Top Rank’s stable of fighters with their
endless requests, Bates got to know a completely different side of the
sport on a first hand basis.

One thing Bates got to notice right
off the bat was just how well each of Top Rank’s fighters were
handled. While champions such as Miguel Cotto, Kelly Pavlik, and Juan
Manuel Lopez were treated with obvious importance, Bates will concede
that nobody had the impact that Filipino sensation Manny Pacquiao had within the company.

“Pacquiao was that
office at times,” Bates pointed out recently. “If he had a
fight coming up and you had three different projects on your desk and
Manny Pacquiao wanted something, you made sure to do whatever Manny
wanted first. Quite frankly at times I was alright with it because he
became the pound for pound champion and when you reach that level I
think you kind of deserve it.”

One thing about Pacquiao
that has been well documented is that he always comes with a large
entourage. While it’s great in the sense that Pacquiao has great
appreciation for those important to him it could also become quite the
choir handling all of the requests that came with Manny’s large
group.

“There were times when it was frustrating because he
would often have a lot of demands,” Bates concedes.
“Sometimes instead of having a certain amount of people on his
list he would add seventeen or more people. You had to just find a way
to make it happen and it could be challenging. When his fights were
coming up that office revolved around him.”

While it may
have been a challenge, Bates admits that it was never too much of a
pain catering to Pacquiao and his team. If anything, Bates was able to
get an up close look into how much trust Pacquiao had in those around
him and exactly how his team made things work.

“Manny is a
very genuine guy too,” Bates points out. “He always rolls
deep, which was annoying at first, but that’s because you realize
everyone who is around him is somebody he knows very well and is very
concerned about. He’s very genuine and you notice that he likes
to joke around a lot. I remember back on the De La Hoya-Pacquiao tour,
this stop was in Texas, somebody from Manny’s team pulled out a
squirt gun and started shooting people. That’s just how his
people are sometimes. Manny loves to have fun and he was very polite the few times I talked to him.”

For
as much as he may like to joke outside of the ring, Pacquiao has been
all business when inside of the ropes. Lately his victories over Oscar
De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton have put him at a whole new level in the
sport, one that very few fighters ever attain. Reflecting on those
victories, Bates remembers just how much a Pacquiao victory impacted
his life at work the following week.

“When he won the next
day was the greatest day on earth,” Bates says smiling.
“There were only fifteen or so people in the core office, and we
all walked in like ‘yeah, we did it’, as if we were part of
that victory too. The Pacquiao fights were the greatest. The Monday
after the De La Hoya fight had to be the greatest and we were just
riding a high.”

The man responsible for a huge part of
Pacquiao’s success is Bob Arum, who runs Top Rank. While Arum is
regarded by some as a shrewd businessman who will do anything to make a
buck, Bates will be the first to admit that he saw a different side of
the promoter when it came to Pacquiao.

“People are very
skeptical of Bob’s appreciation of his fighters,” Bates
acknowledges. “I don’t blame them because promoters
aren’t highly trustable people, but I will say from what I have
seen of Bob and Manny interacting and Bob speaking, that his love is
genuine. Aside from all of the money that Pacquiao made for the company
I feel that Bob really did care about Manny and his well being.”

The
sport of boxing requires a lot of hard work and often a lot of
traveling for world class fighters when they reach an elite level in
the sport. Pacquiao is no different and Bates can only recall a few
occasions when he crossed paths with the multi-division champion.
Still, those rare times when he did interact with Manny, he was left
with quite an impression.

“I remember one time that we
specifically had to get one autograph from him for one of the
sponsors,” Bates recalls. “We had Pacquiao
sign a few autographs and Pacquiao didn’t know me from Adam and
he was just the nicest guy. I could have told him I need you to sign
this blank check and he might have even done that. There is something
about him that makes him so laid back and I think that’s a great
quality in him.”

While most of Bates’ duties required
that he held down the Top Rank offices in Las Vegas, he still found
himself traveling his share, as he was often on the road in conjunction
with media tours for scheduled fights. One such pit stop in California
captured Bates’ imagination in a way he never expected.

“I
always loved going to press conferences on the West Coast,” Bates
claims. “I remember distinctly going to the Los Angeles press
conference for De La Hoya-Pacquiao and being in the middle of Wilshire
Boulevard, right in the heart of Los Angeles. It was firmly De La Hoya
territory and there was just a mass of people who came out. That street
was packed from our stage back to the intersection and there were even
people on rooftops. It was crazy and the Filipinos came out strong to
support their boy too. Every time people started chanting
‘Oscar’ it would be followed up by people chanting
‘Manny’. I talked to a couple different fans and no matter
who they were rooting for they just were looking forward to a good
fight.”

While that atmosphere may have been dynamic, there
was nothing quite like the frenzy of an actual Pacquiao fight, at least
according to Bates. Having fought in Las Vegas for eight of his last
eleven contests, Sin City is like a second home to Pacquiao and Bates
recalls first hand just how crazy the town gets during fight week.

“Before
any big fight, but especially before a Pacquiao fight the city is just
crazy,” Bates points out. “If you walked outside you
couldn’t look too far without seeing people who were talking
about the bout. Pacquiao-Hatton was madness. I think the entire nation
of the United Kingdom was over there. I don’t know what the Queen
was doing; she must have been sitting on her throne wondering where
everyone was. There were also plenty of Filipinos down there. All of
the British pubs were packed and it was just crazy.”

The
Pacquiao-Hatton fight was certainly electric and Bates himself
can’t recall any event that had the magnitude of the two stars
linking up. Despite the fight being completely one-sided the atmosphere
first hand was definitely worth remembering.

“I remember
walking towards the arena for that fight,” Bates recalls.
“The instant you got inside the MGM you could hear
‘There’s only one Ricky Hatton’ and down the line you
could hear people cheering for Manny. Usually when you get into a big
event and it’s a dark undercard there is only 10 percent of the
people there. Already that place was starting to fill up and it was a
madhouse. The roar of the crowd was so loud that you almost
couldn’t hear Michael Buffer. It was the wildest fight.”

No
matter how wild the occasion, one man in Pacquiao’s corner who
seems to take everything with stride is his trainer Freddie Roach. As
the chief trainer in Manny’s corner Roach has guided his charge
with great care and understanding. Throughout it all, Bates has his
reasons for believing why Roach is so unfazed.

“This is old
hat for Freddie Roach,” Bates says without hesitation.
“He’s had so many great fighters that it’s just
second nature for him. I remember during the Pacquiao-Hatton red carpet
press conference I had to assist Freddie Roach for the day. I basically
followed him around and made sure everything was alright as far as him
getting to all of his interviews. He was so down to earth and it was
just another day at the office for him. He’s just gotten so used
to working with Manny that he rolls with anything.”

In talking to Bates you get a true sense of the effect Pacquiao
has had within Top Rank but it’s obvious that his star power has
covered a much wider platform. While this may be a ride that many
people didn’t see coming, Pacquiao has found a way to impact the
boxing world as well as his own country. According to Bates, Pacquiao
is still learning to adjust to his superstar status and in an odd way
perhaps that’s what makes him so endearing to many, simply
because he’s remained the same person throughout his journey in
the sport.

“He’s put the Philippines on the map. He
is the Philippines at times. Now because of him we are discovering so
much new talent in the Philippines. Nonito Donaire, Z Gorres, and
Bernabe Concepcion have all made a name for themselves by following in
Pacquiao’s footsteps. We wouldn’t have heard of them it
wasn’t for Manny Pacquiao. I still think he’s starting to
adjust to his celebrity status. Just a year ago it was kind of new to
him but he’s still coming into his own in many ways.”