“Dinaliang shoutout.”
Twitter users noticed stickers of sponsors which appeared to have been placed hurriedly on the clothing of Manny Pacquiao’s head trainer Buboy Fernandez when he approached the boxing ring during a break.
Pacquiao was in a heated battle with Cuban fighter Yordenis Ugas at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (Manila time). He lost via unanimous decision and enabled Ugas to keep his WBA welterweight belt.
The 42-year-old Filipino pounder was supposed to fight World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. but the latter withdraw due to an eye injury.
User @BoxingSheikh shared a picture taken from the telecast of Sky Sports Action which shows the back of Fernandez’s shirt as he was coaching the Filipino boxing legend in between rounds.
“Pac trainer really glued the ads [advertisements] on haha #PacquiaoUgas,” the tweet reads.
Pac trainer really glued the ads on haha #PacquiaoUgas pic.twitter.com/WIPh7JPlO2
— Sheikh (@BoxingSheikh) August 22, 2021
The sponsors’ stickers on Fernandez’s shirt amused social media users who noticed that some of them appeared to almost fall off the fabric.
“Dinaliang shoutout,” a Twitter user wrote. “Shoutout” refers to a public expression of greeting, praise or acknowledgment directed towards a person or a group. In this case, it is the companies and entities shown on the trainer’s shirt.
“When you forget to print the sponsorships,” wrote another online user with a skull emoji.
“He making sure he getting his paycheck,” quipped a different Twitter user, referring to Fernandez.
In these events, different brands and entities see apparel as advertising space for their products and boxers’ trunks are no exception. Sponsors would eagerly have their logos placed for a price to have an opportunity to be seen by thousands.
Back in 2015, reports noted that a simple six-inch-by-four patch on Pacquiao’s trunks would cost the company no less than $300,000 in US dollars, which is P15 million in today’s currency exchange rate. That was when the boxer was about to fight Floyd Mayweather.
Pacquiao on August 22 (Philippine time) lost his chance to reclaim his World Boxing Association super welterweight title which he was stripped off due to two-year inactivity after fighting Keith Thurman.
The title is maintained by Ugas, who defeated the Filipino eight-division world champion in a unanimous decision.
