Manny Pacquiao, a hero to millions of his countrymen, realizes what is at stake in his Feb. 26 rematch with the crafty, counter-punching machine World Boxing Association/International Boxing Federation featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, who began training at an altitude of 10,000 feet in preparation for the rematch a month ago.
?People keep mentioning about Marquez? high altitude training in order to scare me. But I am not scared,? said Pacquio.
He recently told fans at a reception in his honor hosted by General Santos City Mayor Pedro Acharon, that ?every punch I throw, will have the people of GenSan and the whole country behind me and that is powerful.?
Pacquiao, who has promised to begin training in earnest even through the Christmas holidays in Davao City, assisted by trainer Nonoy Neri, is booked to leave for Los Angeles along with regular Filipino trainer Restituto ?Buboy? Fernandez on Jan. 5 to step up preparations at the Wild Card Gym of trainer Freddie Roach.
The flamboyant Filipino southpaw, who continued his tradition of giving gifts to the poor in celebration of his birthday last Dec. 17, said he wasn?t surprised by the thousands, who spent hours outside his home to greet the People?s Champion and receive gift packs containing rice, noodles and canned goods plus a crisp P100 bill.
?It?s like this every year,? Pacquiao told Viva Sports, which is producing a two-hour special on all the activities surrounding his birthday celebration, including a visit to his rooster farm in Barangay Banahaw, Sarangani.
Even as the crowds kept streaming into his residence in a continuing wave, Pacquiao never wavered, buying 85 additional sacks of rice, saying: ?I will not stop until the last poor person gets something.?
Pacquiao played his last game of pool before leaving for Davao City on Wednesday and placed his last ?minimum bet? on his roosters entered in a Kidapawan derby last week.
From now on, billiards and cockfighting will have to take a backseat to the far more important task of preparing to defeat Marquez and win two championship belts from recognized world boxing organizations ? the WBA and the IBF.
Roach had praised Pacquiao for being ?one of the most dedicated, hardworking fighters I know when in training.?
Pacquiao will have to live up to that standard if he is to beat Marquez and then battle Erik ?El Terrible? Morales in July and hopefully fulfill a dream rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera which HBO plans to stage in late November.
By the end of this year, Roach believes that Pacquiao would have wiped out the Mexican challengers in the most exciting division in boxing at present and become the greatest Filipino champion of all-time.
