LAS VEGAS ? Like his prized puncher Manny Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach is all smiles these days.
“I like that your fighter is happy and is in great shape. We have a good workout and I like where he is at,” said Roach on Wednesday just before the final press conference for the card dubbed Unfinished Business featuring Pacquiao in a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico.
Pacquiao has been noticeably lively and relaxed despite the fact that there are just three days remaining before he collides with Marquez.
“He?s been eating what he likes to eat and the only time that he won?t be will be on Thursday and should be eating back again shortly after the weighin (set Friday at 2:30 p.m.),” said Roach, who joins the Filipino in morning roadworks at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas track oval and at the IBA Compound on Euclid Street in the afternoon.
Thursday will be Pacquiao?s last workout and it will be the lightest training he?ll do in the last eight weeks.
Of course, Pacquiao would still hit the mitts but it is not likely that Roach will allow him to do it longer than four rounds.
Pacquiao?s weight hovers around 132 to 132 1/2 “and he still eats.”
Roach said that once Pacquiao skip one meal, he??ll get down easily to the desired level.
“I want him to weigh 130 during the weighin,” said Roach, who started working with Pacquiao on Jan. 16.
Pacquiao arrived in the US weighing 150 lbs and was down to 140 lbs four weeks before the fight.
Before he drove here, Pacquiao weighed 133 lbs.
“I have no problem with my weight. I shed off excess baggage by training hard and not by starving myself,” said Pacquiao.
