Filipino Jimrex 'The Executioner' Jaca departs for the Unites States tonight on a Philippine Airlines flight as he seeks to dethrone WBO featherweight interim champion Juan Manuel Marquez when they face off on October 21 at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.
Jaca will be accompanied in the trip by his Filipino trainer Robert Bubuli Jr, while his manager Rex 'Wakee' Salud and adviser Anol Jaca leave on October 19.
"He will depart tomorrow (Monday) evening. He is ready, but I'm a bit worried of the jet lag. Jimrex can win this fight if he brings his A-game with him to the US," said Salud, who manages the Dumaguete-born, Sibulan-raised Jaca.
The 23-year-old Jaca, although in prime shape for his title challenge, will have to battle jet lag when he dukes it out with Marquez, easily one of the world's elite fighters, who is promoted by Oscar De la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.
"I am not fazed by his credentials. I am much younger, fresher, hungrier and certainly has better power in my fists," said Jaca in an early interview.
Jaca is set to claim his US visa today in Manila, and is booked on a late-evening flight to Los Angeles, where he will rendezvouz with American trainer Eric Brown, who will assist him in his corner.
Buboy Fernandez, Manny Pacquiao's Filipino trainer who is also in Los Angeles, is also expected to be in Jaca's corner as the Filipino shoots for immortality against the future Hall-of-Famer Marquez.
Marquez, meanwhile, revealed to the Mexican press that he has already studied some previous tapes of Jaca's fights, and indicated that the Filipino is strong and is a worthy opponent.
Marquez's trainer, Nacho Beristain, was also quoted earlier as saying that they are not looking past Jaca, whom he described as a "high-caliber fighter, pressure fighter."
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