Freddie Roach disclosed yesterday Manny Pacquiao is in high spirits and excited to come face-to-face with Oscar De La Hoya in the kick-off leg of their six-city promotional tour for their Dec. 6 encounter in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao and Roach and several members of Team Pacquiao took a commercial flight from Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon and landed in New York just before midnight, in time for Wednesday noon?s much-ballyhooed press conference at the Statue of Liberty.
They will be joined in the affair by Top Rank boss Bob Arum and high-ranking officials of the De La Hoya-owned Golden Boy Promotions led by his right-hand man Richard Schaefer.
Pacquiao actually had an earlier than usual workout at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood on Tuesday so he can catch the five-and-a-half hour coast-to-coast flight and get enough rest for the tiring schedule on Wednesday and in the coming days as well.
Roach, who has trained Pacquiao since 2001, said the Filipino will not be on vacation during the entirety of the press tour that will see them likewise meet the media horde in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In fact, Roach told his marquee fighter that he will be waiting for him at 7 a.m. at the spacious Gravity Fitness and Spa at the Le Parker Meridien on 57th Street where they are billeted.
“He?s doing both,” Roach said. “Manny will run and train.”
Roach said he had also made arrangements for Pacquiao to work out in the five other press stops to ensure that his training doesn?t skip a single beat.
De La Hoya has been quoted as saying that he?ll try his best to score a knockout over Pacquiao, who will be fighting for the first time at welterweight (147 lbs), after winning world titles at flyweight (112 lbs), super-bantam (122 lbs), super-feather (130 lbs) and lightweight (135 lbs).
Pacquiao, who has only fought once at lightweight, has been installed the underdog owing to the natural advantage of De La Hoya in size.
But Pacquiao?s handlers are confident that the Filipino?s quickness and power will not diminish at welterweight since he had proven many times that he can carry his strength and lightning-quick reflexes whenever he fought in a heavier weight division.
According to oddsmakers, De La Hoya is a -240 favorite, while Pacquiao is listed at +180, meaning a 0 bet on De La Hoya only earns 0 and a wager of 0 on Pacquiao wins 0.
