MANILA, 30 June 2006 — Freddie Roach is oozing with confidence.
And Manny Pacquiao is providing the comic relief.
Taking some of the heat away from the much-anticipated confrontation of the Filipino ring icon against what his Mexican handlers are trying to pass up as a ressurected Oscar Larios, Pacquiao came up with the punchlines that only solidified his celebrity status.
The protagonists and their handlers faced the Philippine media yesterday, with Larios and his camp trying doggedly hard to convince this nation that he is not at all afraid of the fighter who has claimed two of the most revered Mexicans in the ring of the modern era.
And while Roach, Pacquiao’s esteemed trainer, countered with predictions and praises of his own, the “Pacman” surely knew when to step in and put a smile back in the faces of the jampacked crowd at the Discovery Suites.
“Excited na nga ako, eh. Gusto ko nang matikman ang suntok niya (I’m excited and I can’t wait to taste his (Larios’) punches),” Pacquiao said as everyone who understood the vernacular laughed.
“Not once have I thought of myself as a really good boxer,” the 27-year-old former bakery help in Gen. Santos in Mindanao added in Filipino. “I’m just another boxer who prepares well and hard for every fight he gets into.”
Tickets for the fight, set Sunday morning at the Araneta Coliseum, are priced astronomically, though feedback of late has said that the card dubbed “Mano-A-Mano” could play to a throng of close to 25,000 people.
“Once he puts on those gloves, he turns into a machine,” said Roach, who adores Pacquiao, 41-3-2 with 32 KOs, so much because of the fighter’s work ethic and vast improvement of late. “I’ve trained 18 world champions and Manny Pacquiao’s the hardest working fighter I’ve worked with by far,” said Roach. “He’s really special.
“If we stick to the game plan, I think Manny can take him out early,” said Roach.
The 56-4-1 Larios, on the other hand, is looking at the fight as the stepping stone to bigger paychecks, one he never truly had in a lackluster career that almost saw an end after he lost in a title fight last year.
The 29-year-old Mexican, who arrived in Manila on Saturday and has since trained in seclusion, will be receiving $450,000 - the biggest in his career. Larios is convinced that winning over Pacquiao would up his ante in his next fights, the Filipino, after all, being regarded as the best poiund-for-pound fighter in the world today.
“A victory over Manny Pacquiao would mean a lot of money for me,” said the Guadalajaran through an interpreter.
“Manny Pacquiao has beaten the best Mexican boxers so a win would really be significant,” added Larios, obviously in reference to the Filipino’s spectacular triumphs over two Mexican ring idols — an 11th-round stoppage of Marco Antonio Barrera and a 10th-round knockout of Erik Morales.
Both Mexicans have never been floored in their careers until they stepped into what Roach said could be the most wicked left hand in the fight business today.
Rafael Marquez, Larios’ veteran trainer, also dismissed the obvious advantage that Pacquiao will have in the fight to be held in the Philippines.
“When you have a big name (Pacquiao) in front of you and he can send you to the stars (by beating him), you perform better,” said Marquez. “I can guarantee you that.
“I know he’s (Pacquiao) a dangerous fighter,” added Mendoza. “But he’s the only one who is going to face Larios when the bell rings. The other 20,000 or so people in the coliseum can’t throw a single punch.
“All they can do is cheer.”
And cheer the Filipinos will, not to Pacquiao punchlines, but to haymakers come Sunday.
