THE CAMP of Mexican Oscar Larios is playing mind games five days before Sunday morning’s much-awaited showdown with Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao at the Araneta Coliseum.
Larios was a no-show at the Elorde Boxing and Fitness Gym at the Ortigas Center yesterday where many thought he planned to practice.
It was later learned that the 29-year-old challenger to Pacquiao’s World Boxing Council (WBC) International super-featherweight throne opted to work out behind closed doors at the fitness center on the fourth floor of the Discovery Suites where the fighter has been staying since Sunday.
Larios is expected to train again today, but the venue remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, a small problem has arisen after the Larios group indicated that the boxer wants to use Everlast gloves, a US brand, instead of the Mexican-made Cleto Reyes.
“They’re trying to mess me up,” said Roach when informed about Larios’ preference for Everlast. He said the two camps had agreed to use Cleto Reyes.
Four pairs of sealed Cleto Reyes gloves worth 0 each were delivered at Roach’s posh room at the Manila Hotel late Monday night via express delivery from Mexico.
Roach said Pacquiao will wear the Cleto Reyes, which he termed as a “punchers’ gloves,” because “real fighters wear these brand of gloves.”
These were the gloves that Pacquiao used when he became the first puncher to score a knockout win over the seemingly unsinkable Erik Morales early this year in Las Vegas.
It is customary that fighters wear the same brand of gloves although during the Pacquiao-Morales rematch early this year, Morales wore the Japan-made Winning.
Both fighters are expected to train until Friday morning in preparation for the official weigh in set at 8 a.m. at the Discovery Suites on Saturday.
Pacquiao and Larios are going to answer the Big Dome bell at exactly 11 a.m. to accommodate the US audience on pay-per-view. They should be at the arena two to three hours before they collide at ring center.
Meanwhile, Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista will be replaced by either reigning Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation king Malcolm Tunacao or Bernabe Concepcion to face Alejandro Montiel of Mexico in a 10-round super-bantamweight tiff.
Bautista, one of the country’s top prospects, was hit by the flu and hasn’t fully receovered.
NOTES: Manny Pacquiao has assigned gun enthusiast Cris “Spiral” Aquino to carry the Philippine flag starting from the dressing room to the ring. Aquino made his debut as Pacquiao’s flag-bearer when Pacquiao fought and mauled Marco Antonio Barrera at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in Nov. 2003. Since the Barrera fight, Aquino was the flag-carrier when Pacquiao fought Juan Manuel Marquez, Fahsan 3K Battery and the two bouts against Erik Morales.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer, who will be the official barker for Sunday’s slugfest, is arriving today at 7 p.m. Buffer is going to be paid ,000 by the organizers to belt out “Let’s get ready to rumble” for the first time on Philippine soil.
