HOLLYWOOD?The bald Caucasian stepped into a Thai restaurant and waited for his turn to be served. His gaze swept across the tiny seven-table room and stopped at the counter, where a guy in a blue jacket and wearing an LA Lakers cap was signing autographs.
The Caucasian, who claimed to be of Cuban descent, approached the edge of the crowd that loitered around the celebrity and asked the nearest person: ?Is that Pacquiao??
When he was told that it was, indeed, the Filipino ring sensation Manny Pacquiao, the man, who later identified himself as Charles Vila, widened his eyes and whispered in hushed tones of reverence: ?Oh, my God.?
Not quite, but close enough.
The General Santos native has transformed himself into someone worshipped in religious proportions not just in a home country badly in need of heroes but also in boxing hot spots around the world.
So much so that people like the 25-year-old Vila, who scrambled to find anything he could get Pacquiao to sign, get star-struck at chance encounters with the boxer.
?I?ve admired him since I watched him fight [Erik Morales the first time],? said Vila a regular in the Universal Fighting Championship where he campaigns as a middleweight. ?He never backs down from a fight, always moves forward.?
Vila bet on Pacquiao against Morales in their first match, and even though he lost, will put his money on the Filipino in their third fight.
Ironically, the trait Vila admires the most about Pacquiao is the one thing that the latter wants to correct as he prepares for his third match against Morales.
Ducked under a swing
At about an hour past noon Friday, Pacquiao stepped into the Wild Card gym here and began another three rounds with the mitts with trainer Buboy Fernandez. In one sequence, Pacquiao ducked under a swing and stepped backward, catching his trainer by surprised.
?Use the jab, don?t back off,? Fernandez told Pacquiao.
?I have to back off sometimes,? Pacquiao replied. ?I can?t keep moving forward because I?m just going to get hit.?
The incident also highlighted the 27-year-old?s morphing into a more mature, cerebral fighter. While mock-sparring with Fernandez, Pacquiao revealed bits and pieces of his game plan against Morales, vowing to use the right hook more often and bobbing and weaving a lot to provide his opponent with a difficult moving target.
?I?m excited to use the right hook,? Pacquiao later said after having lunch, swinging his right hand for emphasis.
Flurry of punches
Every once in a while, he would stop in the middle of a flurry of punches to adjust his strategy as he second-guessed the things Morales would mostly likely do in the third installment of boxing?s current favorite rivalry.
However, when a foreign journalist asked him what the game plan was against Morales, Pacquiao played it coy and said with an impish smile: ?I can?t let the enemy know the secret strategy.?
Pacquiao, who met wife Jinkee at the airport late Friday, plunges into one more sparring session at the Wild Card gym Saturday and then leaves for Las Vegas, where the fight will be held on Nov. 18 (Nov. 19 in Manila), after hearing Mass on Sunday morning.
?We have to go to church first,? Pacquiao told associates who were planning the road trip to Las Vegas. ?No matter how successful you become, you can never neglect to say thanks (to God).?
Roach is expected to oversee the final sparring session after leaving the training reins to Fernandez Friday.
