Manny Pacquiao Honored By Filipino Baker With Life-Size Cake Before Mayweather Fight

By Sneha Shankar @SnehaShankar30

Workers from a bakery pose next to a life-size 70-kg chocolate cake of local boxing icon Manny Pacquiao for the media in Manila, Philippines on May 2, 2015. Reuters/Erik De Castro

A Filipino baker, his wife and six workers have created a life-size replica cake of boxing star Manny Pacquiao, to be handed out to the star’s fans and the couple’s relatives after his fight against American Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night. The couple and their staff reportedly worked for 24 straight hours at the The Bunny Baker cafe in suburban Quezon City to finish the chocolate cake.
Zach Yonzon said that it was his wife’s idea to bake the cake, which
was built around a wooden frame, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The baker added that his team used an image of Pacquiao pulled from the Internet, and that the replica cake's head, arms and calves were made from Rice Krispies.
"Manny Pacquiao is world class, so we wanted to do something equally world class and the only way to do that is to create a cake that was extraordinary," Yonzon said, according to AP, adding: "I wanted really something really, really challenging ... and a life-sized Manny cake is about as challenging and exciting as the cakes come and this is a perfect opportunity to do that."
According to Yonzon, the biggest challenge for his team was that they had no experience in such an enterprise. "It will be interesting to get people's reactions cutting and eating Manny Pacquiao," he said, laughing. "My wife said we will start with the torso."
The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight is expected to be one of the most lucrative ones held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and the fighters will be battling for the WBC, WBA and WBO welterweight titles.
On Friday, about 11,500 fans attended the weigh-in at the MGM Grand, and entry tickets originally priced for $10 were being resold for nearly $800, BBC reported. This was the first time that tickets were sold for a weigh-in before a fight. The actual fight between the two is expected to generate about $400 million. The fight will be aired Sunday morning in the Philippines.
Pacquiao, who has won 57 matches and lost five from a total of 64 fights, said, according to BBC, after the weigh-in: "It's a great responsibility for me to give enjoyment to the fans. The fans deserve to have a good fight, whether they are a fan of Mayweather or Pacquiao. The Lord will always be with me and strengthen me and deliver him into my hands."
Mayweather, who has been unbeaten in 47 professional fights, stands 1.73 meters tall (compared to Pacquiao, who is 1.69 meters tall) and weighed in at 146 pounds -- one pound under the welterweight limit.
"I believe that with my skills, I'm going to be victorious," Mayweather said, according to BBC, adding: "I don't take anything away from Manny Pacquiao, he's a solid fighter and it will be an intriguing match-up. But after Saturday, I'll still be 'TBE' [The Best Ever].