LAS VEGAS ? Manny Pacquiao is going to have a broken heart if he loses Saturday night.
“I had to sacrifice a lot like being away from my loved ones,” said Pacquiao after holding his last workout Thursday afternoon.
“I also did not allow myself to get bothered by distractions as I set them all aside during my eight-week training.”
Pacquiao will be challenging for Marquez?s World Boxing Council (WBC) super-featherweight crown and going after a place in history as the first Filipino and Asian to win three world titles in three different weight classes.
Pacquiao left the Philippines and trained for eight solid weeks under Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood in the hope of regaining his reputation as one of the world?s best pound-for-pound boxers.
This reputation was somewhat soiled after two lackluster performances in 2007.
“This is the toughest (training) ever not only because this was the longest but the hardest as well,” said Pacquiao, the heavy favorite going into the scheduled 12-rounder that takes place before an expected packed crowd at the 12,000-seat Events Center.
Pacquiao once reigned as WBC fly (112 lbs) ruler and International Boxing Federation super-bantam (122 lbs) titlist and is heavy favorite to add Marquez?s 130-lb diadem.
During his last training session, Pacquiao gave Roach all the reason to be confident and worry-free.
One such sign was his torment-free ride to meet the weight limit, a problem that had bedeviled the Filipino in past fights.
Against Marco Antonio Barrera last October for instance, Pacquiao had himself wrapped in thick blankets on the eve of the fight to induce perspiration so he could make the weight limit the following day.
“Manny was two pounds over the 130-lb limit on the eve of the fight and he had to lose weight,” Roach recalled.
This time, Roach said, he does see that problem repeating surfacing again.
On the eve of the weigh in, Pacquiao locked himself inside his suite and went to sleep early in preparation for the most anticipated ritual next to the fight itself, leaving a few VIP visitors high and dry.
The visitors were politely told that it was 8:30 p.m., and it was time to leave the place as this was the curfew time set by Team Pacquiao.
The official weighin will be held Friday at 2:30 p.m. in a makeshift venue adjacent the ring where Pacquiao and Marquez will slug it out before an expected overflow crowd.
Pacquiao is bringing to the ring power and speed, while Marquez is arming himself with technical know-how in what ringsiders believe has all the trappings of a classic encounter.
This will be Pacquiao?s 13th appearance on US shores and he is upbeat that the notoriously unlucky number will not ruin his grand plans for the rest of the year.
Top Rank head Bob Arum has lined him up for a June 28 headliner also at the Mandalay Bay followed by a November outing.
But Marquez stands in his way.
“I am going to show on Saturday that I deserved to win our first fight (held on May 8, 2004),” said Marquez, who had won the title by decisioning Marco Antonio Barrera last year.
In his last fight, Marquez displayed exceptional ring generalship by outpointing rugged Rocky Juarez in early-November 2007.
Pacquiao was hardly spectacular in 2007 as he labored against unheralded Jorge Solis in April and was ordinary versus Barrera in a rematch to their 2003 face-off in San Antonio, Texas.
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NOTES: Cris Aquino, the gun enthusiast and hotel operator and namesake of the popular actress, will carry the Philippine flag for the ninth time when Manny Pacquiao enters the ring. Aquino was handpicked to carry the flag for the first time when Pacquiao faced Marco Antonio Barrera in Nov. 2003 in Texas…Among Filipino officials and personalities attending the fight are Vice-President Noli De Castro, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, Sen. Ramon Revilla, Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza, Robert Jaworski, Chavit Singson, Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes, Nueva Ecija Gov. Oyie Umali, former Gov. Faustino Dy Isabela, former Rizal Gov. Ito Ynares, Bacolod City Mayor Bing Leonardia, showbiz people Tito, Vic and Joey, Aga and Charlene Muhlach, Rudy Fernandez and wife Lorna and Nora Aunor, who was seen at the Mandalay Bay on Thursday… Darlington wrote to correct that this was the socks that Pacquiao endorsed and not Burlington.
