BOTH MEN ARE PRIMED & READY FOR BATTLE!
Manila, R.P.-During the July 4th weekend most families in America will celebrate their countries Independence from Britain. The entire Filipino nation will crowd around their TV sets watching the return of their champion as Manny Pacquiao comes home to face Mexico?s Oscar Larios. In the Philippines, every movie house will be filled and the streets will be empty. Pacquiao, an iconic like Philippine figure, will take part in the first fight since his biggest win last January against Erik Morales. For Larios, he?s trying to bounce back from a stunning stoppage, losing his WBC super bantamweight belt after eight title defenses.
IT WILL BE 9:00 AM LOCAL TIME WHEN FIGHT STARTS!
When Joe Calzaghe ran Jeff Lacy out of a UK ring back in March, that fight took place at 2:00 AM to benefit the live U.S audience watching the event primetime Saturday night. The same will hold true, but in the reverse, as the U.S audience will also get to watch the pay-per-view July 1st; Saturday night. However, the fight card taking place at the ?Big Dome? of Araneta Coliseum will begin at 9:00 in the morning. This will be a huge adjustment for both men, seeing they have fought most, if not all of their fights late at night. One of the hardest things to do for people is to wake up in the morning. Imagine waking up and getting into a fight; it?ll be tough. However, Pacquiao spent most of his time training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California. This might be a slight advantage for Pacquiao as Larios has spent most of his training time in Japan.
BEWARE OF THE LONG STRAIGHT RIGHT
When Oscar Larios dismantled Willie Jorrin, who was trained by Manny?s guy Freddie Roach, it was the long straight right hand down the center that dropped Jorrin thrice. Willie simply had no defense against that right hand. That will be Larios? best weapon against Pacquiao if he hopes to knock him out. For Pacquiao, distance could be a key because Larios is a brutal inside fighter, who wore out Wayne McCullough in his most recent win. Although his knockout ratio doesn?t scare anyone, that right hand starting high from the tall fighter can end anyone?s night.
A SAD REALIZATION OF PACMAN FANS
Like most popular sports teams or athletes, there will be a strong group of people who will wish of the downfall of that successful team. Just like how everyone in the baseball world, beside New Yorkers, root against the Yankees, so too are many boxing fans, who have become sick and tried of Pacquiao fans swarming the Internet praising his accomplishments. That?s a natural tendency for people to root against the popular guy just to shut the fans up. But in my opinion, if Pacquiao were to face Prince Naseem Hamed, you can bet all Mexican fight fans would root for the brawler Pacquiao.
