Ready to rumble.
That?s how trainer Freddie Roach described Manny Pacquiao yesterday after his ward passed the weight limit and got a clean bill of health for tonight?s “Yanig sa Taguig” showdown with Thailand?s Fahsan 3K Battery before an expected huge crowd at the Fort and millions more at home .
Pacquiao tipped the scales at 125 lbs, just a pound lighter than the limit, then had his blood pressure and heartbeat monitored, and his eyes, ears and major joints checked by designated ring physician Nasser Cruz.
“He?s ready,” said Roach, the top-ranked American trainer, after the weigh-in held at the Forbes Center or just a stone?s throw away from the open-air venue set up inside the vast Global City in The Fort, Taguig.
It will mark the first time the Filipino ring hero will see action again before adoring fans since his tremendous victory over Mexican ring legend Marco Antonio Barrera last November in San Antonio, Texas that boosted his stock in international front.
He last fought locally in October 2002 in Davao with a first round knockout of Thailand?s Fabrakob Rakkiatgym.
Fahsan vowed to knock out Pacquiao who is scheduled to fight Mexican WBA and IBF featherweight champion Juan Antonio Marquez in the US on Feb. 26. The Thai will get the chance to prove his worth when the fight starts at 9 p.m.
Fahsan, who promised to add Pacquiao to his list of Filipino victims ? more than 20 in all ? in this non-title bout scheduled for 12 rounds, tipped the scales at 124 lbs and underwent the same process like Pacquiao. His blood pressure was recorded at 110/70 against the Filipino?s 110/80.
“Okay, we got a fight,” American promoter Murad Muhammad shouted over the microphone after both fighters were given the thumbs-up sign by Dr. Cruz. All boxers in the seven supporting bouts were also given the go-signal to fight.
Workers were still constructing the ring yesterday noon and were working on the lights ? under a thick, giant canopy that would keep the fight from being stopped and those paying for P10,000 tickets sheltered in case it rains.
The seasoned Ferdie Estrella will be the third man on the ring while working with their pencils as judges are American Bruce McTavish and Filipinos Ricardo Canlas and Atty. Epi Almeda.
After the weigh-in, Fahsan immediately left for the Discovery Suites along Ortigas where he is billeted while Pacquaio stayed on for a long picture-taking session with employees of the posh Forbes Center.
In front of curious onlookers, Pacquiao had a hearty lunch. He had beef steak, vegetable broth, two cups of rice, two ripe mangoes, a banana, slices of fresh orange, a whole glass of Gatorade and a small bottle of bird?s nest with rock sugar.
“Yan ang sekreto ng mga guwapo,” said Pacquiao after gulping the rich, white and creamy solution which he said is being imported from Indonesia. “Mahirap humanap niyan dito. Sekreto natin ?yan.”
Roach said with the intake until tomorrow, he expects Pacquiao to weigh from 132 to 134 lbs by the time he fights Fahsan who is expected to weight almost just the same.
