On Monday evening about 9PM, Filipino superstar Manny Paquiao made a low key entrance into Las Vegas?s MGM Grand, where he will be facing Mexican legend Eric ?El Terrible? Morales this coming Saturday. There were some press on hand to greet the star, as well as many of his fellow countrymen, with whom he posed for photos. Accompanying his charge was trainer Freddie Roach, who answered questions regarding this Saturday?s super fight. Fightnews had a chance for a quick one-on-one with the affable Roach who had this to say.
Is your game plan to come for Manny to come as fast as he did against Juan Manuel Marquez, or do you want a more measured approach? We?re not going to come out so recklessly, but if he does hurt the guy then we will finish him. We didn?t plan on that with Marquez but we just caught the guy early.
So would you be surprised if Morales was hurt early? NO! It?s a definite possibility. It might be a one round knockout. We?re going to fight every round at a fast pace. This guy has got some miles on him and we?re going to make him fight at our pace not his. We?re going to go to the body early and hopefully get the KO late.
What about Manny?s defense? In his fight with Marquez he did get caught with a lot of shots. What have you done to rectify this? Well, he had so much success with the left hand early, so he got kind of stuck in the mode of using that one thing and so Marquez figured it out as he?s a pretty smart fighter. So we?re approaching it a little more scientifically this time. I expect it to be good fight and I expect to fight better than he did the last time.
Do you expect Manny to be as fast being that he is stepping up in weight? No problem. He?s hitting just as fast and harder.
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Next up, the Pacman himself was available to answer some questions.
You?re stepping up a weight division for this fight to 130 lbs. What do you expect to weight come Friday?s weigh in? I think maybe at about 129-128.
Being that you?re stepping up a weight do you still expect to be the bigger puncher? Yeah , for sure.
Does Morales? punching power worry you at all? No I?m not worried about the punching power of Erik Morales. He doesn?t punch as hard as Marco Antonio Barrera.
Some betting shops are giving good odds that you?ll end the fight within the distance. Are you expecting a knockout? I just came to win this fight. I?m not saying anything about a knockout. I?m just going to do what I do and I want to make people happy this fight.
