A relaxed and extremely confident WBO world welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao motors from his Los Angeles training camp to Las Vegas for his title defense date with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand this coming weekend.
Saying he?s done everything needed to be done to ensure his six-year immaculate record is safely intact, the 32-year-old pound-for-pound king motors to the Sin City this Monday U.S. Time with his team, headed by chief trainer Freddie Roach, in tow.
?Yes, handang handa na tayo. I believe my team, led by Freddie, has provided me with all I need to win this fight and the only problem left is how I would do it atop the ring,? Pacquiao told Malaya Business Insight in an interview yesterday when he enjoyed his first whole day rest since started prepartions almost two smonths ago in Baguio City.
?Last sparring day ko dito sa Wild Card last Saturday at binigyan ako ni Freddie ng isang araw na rest ngayon. At dahil Linggo ngayon, nagsimba alo kasama si Jinkee at ilang miyembro ng team,? he said.
Roach agreed and even went further reiterating his earlier pronouncement that the Pacman is capable of knokcing out the durable Mosley, who also answers to his moniker ?Sugar.?
?As I have been saying, Manny stands to go into the record book as the first man to knock Mosley out and I am not oiff tangent with my prediction,? Ropach stressed.
?Shane?s a tough guy, a very durable guy. And it would be incredible for Manny to become the first man to stop him and prove to the world who much better he is than that guy that couldn?t stop him,? he added in obvious reference to undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. who could only settle for a unanimous decision victory over the former three-division champion Mosley.
?You know, I always believe that all fights should end in knockouts and we?ll see to it that the coming fight ends that way,? he said, again, reaffirming his pronouncement made a month ago upon setting foot in L.A from their first phase of his training in the Philippines.
?Asked how Pacquiao will be able to do it, Roach said: Manny will fight at a fast pace. I don?t know if (Mosley) is prepared to match that pace but we?re going to force him to join the action and we?re going to go for a knockout. If it comes, it comes. I think Manny is definitely the guy capable of succeeding where others before him failed.?
?We?re 100 percent ready for the fight,? Roach assured.? If Mosley brings his best we?re ready for his best.? I don?t think there is any room for an upset, but in boxing you never know. We?re 100 percent ready on our end. We?ve done everything we can to get ready for the fight.?
It was a very busy week for Pacquiao the entire week last week when Pacquiao obliged to some social obligations like appearing in the Jimmy Kimmel Live, in interviews with CBS?s Showtime and launching his new CD album.
Last Saturday was another day to launch, this time, a new cologne called ?MP8, a sequel of his old ?MP7.? Both scents were produced to celebrate his winning world championships in record seven and eight divisions.
?Isa na namang record yung eight-division champion, so I thought of coming up with a diferent fragrance, this tie called ?scent of champions,? Pacquiao explained.
Like his daily grind on the road and inside the gym, a throng of Pacquiao fans is expected to send him off when the bus carrying the party rolls off to Las Vegas Monday afternoon.
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