LOS ANGELES — American trainer Freddie Roach is so certain of victory against Mexican Oscar Larios that he has already planned a regimen for Manny Pacquiao to prepare him for his fight against Erik Morales. Roach wants his favorite fighter to plunge back to training beginning the second week of September.
Roach wants the Filipino boxing icon to be at his doorstep approximately two months before the Filipino knockout artist rumbles with Morales in their megabuck rubber match on Nov. 18 in Las Vegas.
“Eight weeks,” Roach said when asked about how long it would take for Pacquiao to reach fighting form for a tough third meeting with the long-armed Mexican bomber.
Since to their estimation Larios is not as dangerous as Morales, Pacquiao began training for the July 2 encounter only last May 18.
Top Rank big boss Bob Arum said the Pacquiao-Morales III will be held at the Thomas and Mack Center with two hotel moguls Steve Wynn and the Caesar’s Palace group joining together to stage one of the year’s most anticipated matches.
“We are even going to raise the ticket prices for this one,” said Arum when he was in New York over the weekend. “Both fighters are going to earn their biggest paychecks (in the rubber match).”
“This is going to be bigger than the first two fights,” said Arum, who revealed that Morales is determined to avenge the 10th-round stoppage loss last January.
“Erik is doing very well right now and we are getting a nutritionist (to help Morales make the weight limit of 130 lbs easily),” added Arum.
In preparation for the third fight, Roach said that an extension of the Wild Card in Hollywood that is currently being built will be used exclusively for Pacquiao once he starts training for the Morales fight.
The extension will have its own ring and will be off-limits to some other fighters and patrons of the Wild Card who will have to be content with the set-up in the main gym as what’s taking place there nowadays with Pacquiao sharing the facilities with them, including ex-world super-flyweight titlist Gerry Pe?alosa and Hawaii-born Ilocano Brian Viloria.
