TOMORROW, a new Manny Pacquiao will climb up the ring.
Since he now clutches a bible, he has transformed from Mr. Vice to Mr. Bible.
He has said it himself: ?I have dropped everything for the Bible.?
He disposed of his fighting cocks ? for free.
When TV star Korina Sanchez told Pacquiao that what the boxing icon had discarded were expensive stuff, the PacMan replied, ?Oh, yeah??
After a pause, Pacquiao said, ?Hayaan mo na iyon.?
Easily, a top-rated fighting cock like a Pacquiao rooster would easily fetch fifty thou. And Pacquiao had dispatched no less than a thousand world-class caliber cocks ? for free.
A bar in his house in GenSan that he had used to entertain guests to nightly jousts, almost, of drinks and more, Pacquiao had torn down in earnest. And, in its place, now stand a ?house of worship? cum Bible study.
In his fight tomorrow against Timothy Bradley, 28, it will mark the first time that Pacquiao, 33, has prepared almost without a single distraction.
He even left basketball, a game that Freddie Roach, Pacquiao?s Hall of Fame trainer, had despised for so long.
?Basketball did not only destroy his footing during an actual boxing bout,? said Roach, ?it also caused him to suffer cramps in the latter part of a fight.?
Thus, we have a totally new Pacquiao.
Overhauled.
Self-resurrected.
Tuned to perfection.
Overhauled because his mind has been refocused to completely annihilate a foe that is undefeated in 28 fights.
Self-resurrected because upon his own volition, Pacquiao (54-3-2, win-loss-draw) feels he is a changed man spiritually ? a belief reinforced by a resolve that he has become sin-free, almost.
Tuned to perfection because minus the distractions (divorce stories and the like) and a sport (basketball) that eternally endangered his physical condition, Pacquiao has become the old Pacquiao: Sharp, determined, powerful.
This isn?t only a brand-new Pacquiao we are going to see fight tomorrow, this is also a different Pacquiao that has been packaged to reclaim an old moniker: Powerhouse Pacquiao.
And so, I say again: Pacquiao to win by knockout inside six rounds.
