SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The sweat trickled as though from a dripping faucet and formed a damp circle in the ring of the Jesse James Lejia gym here.
Manny Pacquiao, perspiring freely after more than two hours of light training, was handed a towel to dry his finely chiseled abdomen on Thursday (Friday in Manila).
He turned to the three Manila sportswriters standing near the ropes, blinked and whispered: “Ang sarap mag-ensayo (It feels good to train).”
Then, he showed off his muscled abs and said: “Underweight na ako, laban na lang ang kulang (I’m already underweight going to the fight).”
Whether the Filipino superstar has indeed already made the 130-pound limit for his WBC International super featherweight title fight against Mexican Jorge Solis will be known Friday afternoon (Saturday in Manila) when they step onto the weighing scales.
Pacquiao, certain he won’t encounter any problem, even planned a light dinner on the eve of the official weight test.
“Kakain pa ako (I’m still going to eat),” said Pacquiao, adding he doesn’t have any problem as far as his weight is concerned. “Walang problema (No problem).”
It was a surprising declaration from the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter of 2006 who was visibly in a rotten mood when he woke up Thursday. He looked uneasy, even cranky.
A member of Team Pacquiao said he got irritated when he smelled cigarette smoke and hardly spoke a word even after doing his routine morning run at the Radisson Hotel block.
It may be true, as the sportswriters had to wait for nearly an hour under sweltering heat before being called in to watch the closed-door training.
But after sweating it out — skipping ropes, testing the speed ball, hitting the mitts, shadow boxing — with wife Jingkee watching on the sidelines, his temperament lightened.
