Ines Sainz weighs in on Pacquiao-Margarito
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There were hoots and hollers at a hotel workout session Tuesday.
Antonio Margarito appeared; Manny Pacquiao was there.
So was Ines Sainz.
The TV Azteca reporter drew attention earlier this NFL season when some New York Jets behaved inappropriately in her presence. She had sought an interview with quarterback Mark Sanchez in the team’s locker room.
Now Sainz has been hired by boxing promotion company Top Rank to provide interviews for the company’s website, toprank.com.
The hiring drew some criticism at this newspaper. Sainz has covered boxing before for her network, and she was busy chatting with Pacquiao, Margarito and others Tuesday in advance of the boxers’ world junior-middleweight championship fight Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium.
‘My style is friendly and fresh,’ Sainz said.
The man who hired her, Top Rank President Todd duBoef, said Sainz was hired because ‘it’s everything we’re doing with this sport to broaden our horizon, bring people in who might not usually care about boxing.
‘We could’ve got a Jeremy Schaap or Al Bernstein, but that’s been done every time,’ he said. ‘Ines is obviously pleasing to the eye, and we’re repositioning our sport to hit all markets, to make us more contemporary.’
Sainz chatted with fans Tuesday, and said she looks forward to the bout in which pound-for-pound king Pacquiao seeks his record eighth weight-class title and former champion Margarito of Tijuana attempts to resurrect a career besieged by allegations he tried to cheat by having plaster in his hand wraps last year.
‘Margarito is the strongest, the tallest and has more punching power,’ Sainz said. ‘I think this fight is all about Manny’s speed. The fans I talked to earlier today truly believe Margarito will pull a surprise, but most of them were from Mexico.
‘I’m very excited to be here.’
Sainz said she continues to cover the NFL, attending Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys games recently. She said that after the Jets scandal, she continues to stay out of locker rooms by her own choosing.
‘It’s a big show if I go in there, and I don’t want that,’ she said. ‘I’ve worked hard with [team] public relations people to do it outside, and I believe all of them will do that for me.’
She said she’s working to get an interview with three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots.
On Wednesday, she’ll monitor the fighters’ final news conference at Cowboys Stadium.
‘I’ve been looking for years for a reporter who speaks Spanish and English,’ duBoef said. ‘I believe the ecosystem around the fight, like writers talking to promoters at this workout, is interesting. That’s what I want to bring to the fans, and Ines helps us do that. This stuff is amazing.’
-- Lance Pugmire
