LAS VEGAS // Not at every sporting press conference does Paris Hilton turn up and plop herself down to the left of the victorious athlete at the lectern.
OK, actually, at no other press conference does this occur. But on Saturday night there she sat, the heiress famous for no apparent reason, epitomising the riveting excess of Las Vegas.
"I think it was an incredible fight," she said when consulted, casting herself in the minority unless she meant "incredible" with irony. "I am a huge fan of Pacquiao. I wanted to be up here with his wife (Jinkee, who sat to her left). They're an incredible couple. So, very amazing fight. I loved it."
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Finishing his answers and remarks moments later, Pacquiao said: "And I want to thank Paris Hilton for coming here and supporting me."
Her bright-blonde presence added another layer of extraneous razzmatazz to another evening of the continued merging of sports and entertainment, on a night that ended with the winner of the sporting event singing as an aspiring entertainer.
Inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the Filipino star Charice sang the Philippines' national anthem. The American star Tyrese Gibson sang the United States' national anthem. Jamie Foxx, best known for winning an Academy Award for playing Ray Charles, sang America The Beautiful as not enough flags had waved just yet.
Then, as the fighters emerged, each reached back into the 20th century to find their inspirational entry song. The American veteran and challenger Shane Mosley reached the arena with LL Cool J in the hallway singing, visible on giant screens, his 1991 release Momma Said Knock You Out. Next came Pacquiao, who walked up right behind Jimi Jamison as the Survivor singer sang the 1982 smash Eye Of The Tiger.
Pacquiao grinned typically.
But for the little matter of dominating Mosley across 12 rounds, Pacquiao might well have envied Jamison for the pound-for-pound king, too, adores a microphone in the general vicinity of his larynx.
And so, when the noise of the 16,412-strong crowd had subsided after the fight, at 2am, one could find the winner around the bend and shortly up Las Vegas Boulevard at the Mandalay Bay events room. To that small coliseum he had invited a roomful of reporters and others to join the fans at a "beach party" that showcased his own crooning.
Before the many who had paid US$65 (Dh239) for party tickets, plus the many others who had begged their way in through friends from the outside hallway during a ticket fiasco, he collaborated with the Canadian singer Dan Hill on the latter's 1978 hit Sometimes When We Touch.
As security expelled one young man who had undertaken some malfeasance with the party wrist bands, you could hear the sappy ballad wafting all the way into the halls.
