LAS VEGAS -- Wherever Manny Pacquiao goes, it seems there are crowds waiting to cheer him. Today, for example, it has taken him 30 minutes to fight his way from the entrance of the MGM Grand to a small group of reporters waiting in a room at the other end of the lobby. It is a degree of adoration that has prompted his promoter, Bob Arum, with perhaps just a pinch of hyperbole -- but not necessarily much more than that -- to dub Pacquiao the most popular athlete in the world today. It is a designation from which the man himself shrinks.