PRESS TOUR INSIDER REPORT: DAY 5

HBO.com tags along on Floyd and Oscar's eight-city road show | February 26, 2007. Houston & Dallas, TX.

Photos by Rob DeLorenzo/Golden Boy

Before we hit San Francisco, Las Vegas and, finally, Los Angeles, the media tour made stops in Houston and Dallas. Houston was filled with screaming Oscar fans and not a cloud in the sky. The entourages gathered the luggage from the plane's bathroom again. It wouldn't have been so bad if Floyd's jewelry wasn't so heavy. An informal survey: several large watches, small boxing gloves, pendants and bracelets, all silver, some diamond incrusted. All the bling in the world couldn’t compare to the view at 30,000 feet, however. As we passed over the Rockies, the pilot pointed out how clearly we could see the top of the world. Pretty amazing.

The crowd in Dallas represented -- with over 1,000 people outside the arena on this sunny, beautiful day. Fans pushed against metal barricades as the fighters signed autographs. Both seemed to be saving their juice for Vegas, or maybe LA, when we come to the final legs of the tour. I'm sure Floyd has a few more tricks up his sleeve.