Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao start six-city publicity tour

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The numbers to beat are 2.5 million pay-per-view buys and $165 million in total revenue. So, the barnstorming begins Wednesday when Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao meet at the Statue of Liberty in New York on the first leg of their six-city publicity tour.

Their Dec. 6 welterweight bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas sold out in minutes last week, generating live-gate profits of nearly $17 million. Last May’s De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout set a new pay-per-view record -- which is why the two boxers will be traveling from New York to Chicago, Houston, San Antonio and San Francisco before stopping in Los Angeles on Oct. 7.

They will stop at De La Hoya’s home turf in East L.A. (at the Whittier Boulevard arch) for a noon event next Tuesday. Admission is free, but arrive early because the boxers are certain to attract thousands of fans.

-- Lance Pugmire