The Manila Times Correspondent
Oozing with confidence, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao wound up his workouts Friday and looked primed to take on Mexican Oscar Larios on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.
Unlike the previous days when he would work out near noontime, Pacquiao broke routine and spent two hours training in the middle of the afternoon at the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
He had two rounds on the speed bag, two rounds of shadow boxing and two rounds of skipping rope.
American trainer Freddie Roach said that his 27-year-old pride of General Santos City was tipping the scales between 128 to 129 pounds so would easily meet the 130-pound limit during Saturday?s 8 a.m. weigh-in at the Discovery Suites Hotel at the Ortirgas Center in Pasig City.
“Right now he is underweight and he will have no problem making the weight limit tomorrow,” Roach said.
Roach added that he expect Pacquiao to weigh around 131 to 132 pounds when he battles “Chololo” on Sunday in the main event of the “Mano-a-Mano” card jointly promoted by Manny Pacquiao Promotions and TV network ABS-CBN.
Noted American ring announcer Michael “Let?s Get Ready to Rumble!” Buffer, who arrived late Thursday, will usher in the fight.
“Manny is just very relaxed and I can tell now we will have a very good fight tomorrow. He is raring to go,” Roach said.
Larios is reportedly winding up his own preparations at the Red Corner gym in Pasig City.
Larios will receive $450,000 while Pacquiao will get $1 million in the fight at the Big Dome, also the site of the 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” featuring boxing greats Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
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