LOS ANGELES, California — Manny Pacquiao yesterday said that, instead of being pressured and bothered, he has actually been buoyed up by the betting trend in Las Vegas where he was pegged a 10-8 underdog Saturday in the sportsbook windows.
The truth, he confided to the Inquirer after a Filipino food lunch at the Max’s Restaurant in Glendale, is that he has loaded up in power, speed and technique, a fact that cannot be reflected in betting preferences.
For example, Pacquiao said, his right hand has grown doubly strong and effective, a big jump from last year when this was hardly used in his first encounter with Erik Morales.
It was like this: In the first encounter against Morales, Pacquiao’s vaunted left was something like 90 percent, with the right proving to be only half as effective.
So, from 50 percent against Morales last time out, has the right fist improved by another 30 or 40 percent?
“Di ko masabi (Hard to say), but sure ako, mas malakas ngayon ang kanan ko (but I’m sure my right is now stronger),” Pacquiao confided after acknowledging a horde of autograph hunters, who also requested for photographs with their boxing idol in the restaurant.
Pacquiao headed straight to Max’s, one of his favorite eating places here, where he tendered a feast of beef nilaga, kare-kare, daing na bangus, bistik Tagalog for team members and their friends, straight from Sunday morning Mass at the Christ the King church on North Rossmore.
Earlier, trainer Freddie Roach confirmed that he has injected changes into Pacquiao’s arsenal, which had proved inferior against the crafty and vastly experienced Morales during their first encounter at the MGM Grand last March.
“Manny’s in great shape, he’s more focused, he has power in both hands,” Roach said.
He said they have studied the defects in the last fight, and have worked hard to correct these.
“Mentally, he’s more prepared this time around,” Roach added.
But what should add up to the quiet optimism in the RP group here is the fact that Pacquiao is a tested, great underdog fighter.
He scored his biggest win as an awful underdog when he stopped reigning World Boxing Council super featherweight king Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003.
He jolted, stopped and dethroned world super bantamweight champion Lehlo Ledwaba of Africa coming in as a last-minute substitute in 2001.
Pacquiao came in from the cold to stop Chatchai Sasakul of Thailand to annex the WBC flyweight title in December 1998.
But against Morales last year, when he entered the ring an overwhelming favorite, Pacquiao proved unworthy of the lofty billing as he lost the first battle.
“Ito iyon, this is actually what we’ve been waiting for, maging dehado (to be the underdog,” explained Buboy Fernandez, Pacquiao’s Filipino handler.
Pacquiao was a 7-5 favorite until last Friday.
Needless to say, records would show that Pacquiao is fiercer and more dangerous fighting as an underdog.
