HOLLYWOOD — Slowly but surely, Manny Pacquiao is trimming down to fighting shape.
The Filipino ring icon hit the weighing scales at 133 pounds on Monday, just three off the super featherweight limit with still 12 days to go before his World Boxing Council title showdown with Mexican champion Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas.
Freddie Roach, who supervises Pacquiao?s training at his Wild Card Gym here, was a bit concerned, however, when he learned that his ward skipped breakfast on Saturday.
?I noticed he was a little off when he sparred for 12 rounds,? said Roach. ?It turned out that he did not eat breakfast and it?s the most important meal of the day.?
Still, Roach was glad that Pacquiao had shed off three pounds less than a week after he weighed in at 136 lb.
Roach bared that Pacquiao practiced for the equivalent of 20 rounds without rest on Monday, but is slated to taper off his training for the 12-round bout on March 15 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.
After another four rounds Monday morning, Team Pacquiao intends to travel by convoy to Las Vegas, about 480 kilometers from here, although Top Rank president and ?Unifinished Business? co-promoter Bob Arum has offered a private plane to fetch Pacquiao.
Roach said he?s very happy with the way their seven-week training has proceeded.
?There were no distractions — no basketball, no pool, no gambling this time,? said Roach, adding that Pacquiao has promised to focus on boxing this year.
Roach revealed that aside from watching Pacquiao-Marquez I, which ended in a controversial draw in 2004, he also regularly reviews the Mexican?s last two fights against Marco Antonio Barrera and Rocky Juarez.
According to Roach, he still expects Marquez to fight the same way — counter-punching — he did nearly four years ago because it?s his best chance of besting Pacquiao.
NOTES: Former senator and basketball great Sonny Jaworski flew in Monday and said Pacquiao is likely to beat Marquez. Jaworski, who also picked Pacquiao to knock out Marco Antonio Barrera last year, will be playing in the PBA Legends Tour set to start next week in key US cities.
