LOS ANGELES — Fear is a word not found in Manny Pacquiao’s vocabulary. In fact, he is not interested in knowing its true meaning.
While he admits that Erik Morales got the better of their duel last year, it doesn’t follow that he’d tremble at the sight of the Mexican taking off his robe Saturday night at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“Iyang si Morales? Hindi ako tinataasan ng balahibo dyan,” Pacquiao said over the weekend as he was doing his routine afternoon story-telling to close friends inside his luxurious two-bedroom unit at the Palazzo.
“Kung gusto pa nga niya ay mag-bakbakan na kami kahit wala pang gloves na suot. Kahit sa kalye pwede na rin kaming mag-upakan,” said Pacquiao, who demonstrated his excitement over this weekend’s megabuck matchup by throwing a three-punch combination in the air.
Pacquiao, who opened as a 7-5 betting favorite when the fight was formally announced in November, is expected to arrive in Sin City late Monday afternoon (Tuesday morning in Manila) where he will be given a dramatic welcome at the entrance of the Wynn Resort and Casino.
He said only bad breaks could prevent him from exacting payback.
“Huwag lang tayo maputukan, kaya nating manalo,” Pacquiao said, knocking the wooden table with his fist during lunchtime at Max’s of Manila in Glendale with his friends and a handful of mediamen from Manila.
Pacquiao said he is so hopeful of a victory come fight night that a remark from a Mexican waitress working at the famed restaurant brightened up the day of Pacquiao’s supporters.
“Here, eat this so you could kill Morales,” said the bubbly food server who placed Max’s signature fried chicken in front of Pacquiao, who just smiled.
Before heading to Max’s, one of his favorite places to dine when he is here, Pacquiao heard mass at the Christ The King Church in Hollywood where he was given a special blessing by the priest after the service as a group of Filipinos living here gathered around him.
Pacquiao even held a month-old baby in his arms outside for a few minutes, posed for pictures and signed his autograph on some mementos as he was making his way to his newly-purchased Porsche Cayenne.
Later in the day, he fetched his wife Jinkee at the Los Angeles Airport. Jinkee arrived with other members of the fighter’s group, including another training assistant from Manila, Nonoy Neri, who is on his first trip to the US.
On the day of their departure for Las Vegas, Pacquiao will train early and spar for only four rounds. But trainer Freddie Roach said they’ll continue to work out probably until Wednesday at a gym inside the IBA Compound just a few blocks away from the Strip.
