LOS ANGELES, CA (via Pera Padala) – With only a week before Manny Pacquiao plunges into action against Antonio Margarito, the pound-for--pound king himself and his handlers see the Filipino ring icon the winner and collect his eighth division title after their 12-round showdown Nov. 13 (Nov. 14) at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s adviser-cum errand boy even said the fight can be held today and the reigning World Boxing Organization reigning junior-welterweight champ can come out at the better end of his 12-round scuffle with the Mexican “Tijuana Tornado.”
“That’s actually our problem today, the fight is still one week away,” he told sportswriters after Pacquiao’s four-hour workout at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood here.
Koncz actually was responding to a question as to whether there still are problems that have to be patched up before what is being hyped as the Filipinos’ toughest fight.
That, of course, is Koncz way of saying the seven-division champ is already in tip-top shape that the next nine days before the Dallas confrontation will be confined to just reviewing the fight strategy and make improvement on it.
To which, Pacquiao and chief trainer Freddie Roach agreed.
“I have never been ready like I am now,” Pacquiao blurted out during a mini-presscon attened by Filipino media men here to cover the fight. “Ready na ako. Lahat ng loopholes ay natakpan na.”
“Pati ang resistance ko ay okey na. Nag-spar ako kahapon ng 12 rounds at ni hindi man lang ako hiningal,” he added. ‘Our main strategy will be on speed. Yun naman tala and advantage ko kay Margarito. So, we will be concentrating on that in our last week of preparations.”
“Yeah, we will just be polishing on strategy, game plan in the remaining days of preparation,” Roach, for his part, said. “We had already done what we’re supposed to do. We’ll just wait for the fight day.”
Besides the usual daily limbering up, shadow-boxing and working on double end ball and speed ball, Pacquiao did 12 rounds with the mitts against Roach who looked to be enjoying everything Pacuiao did atop the ring, including exchanging barter with his ward.
“Well, you just saw him worked today. He is very happy and cheerful throughout today’s session. That only means one thing, he’s ready. That’s his way of telling Margarito that he’s ready for him,” Roach said.
“That also means all those rumors saying Manny having the worst training camp are untrue. We had several distractions in the almost two-month training brought about by politics, but Manny, like before, overcame those,” Roach said.
“in the first place, we never said we had our worst training camp. That he did not train hard. Today, after 12 rounds on the mitts today, he was asking for more rounds. But I didn’t give it to him, Roach said.
Source: PhilBoxing.com
