LAS VEGAS?His mouth upturned into a hint of a smile, his head tilted upward to give the appearance of a cocked eyebrow, his eyes showing off a glint of mischief, Freddie Roach wished Erik Morales the best of luck.
?He?s going to need it,? said Roach.
As Manny Pacquiao eased up a bit in training, opting instead to fine-tune the technical aspects of his game plan against Morales, the American trainer stepped up on the verbal jabs, vowing that his prized ward will finish off the Mexican superstar before the final bell.
?I don?t see this going the distance,? said Roach, who has worked Pacquiao?s corner for five years now. ?Down the stretch, around the ninth, 10th or 11th rounds, we?re going to knock him out.?
Roach then threw in the qualifying statement: ?We just have to be prepared for the early onslaught because I believe Morales is going to come out really strong in the opening rounds.
?If we can do that, the fight?s over.?
So there was Pacquiao Tuesday afternoon, working the mitts with Roach, still flaunting the speed and power that made American boxing writers present during the open workout dub him the ?most exciting fighter on Earth.?
Tuesday?s workout focused more on defensive techniques as the Filipino ring sensation worked on ways to get out of tight spots, particularly if Morales manages to pin him against the ropes early.
?We?re just going through a couple of things; make sure we have the game plan drilled in our heads,? Roach said.
The training session, attended by foreign journalists and photographers, was a far cry from the intense workouts at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles, where Pacquiao gave observers little doubt as to what he would do to Morales on fight night on Nov. 18 (Nov. 19 in Manila) at the Thomas and Mack Center.
The fight is the third between the two fierce gladiators, who split their first two bouts.
But Pacquiao still showed signs of the old regimen, going for extra time in some aspects of his training and turning a cool-down session into a sweat-inducing workout, showing exactly just how fit he was for the grudge match dubbed ?The Grand Finale.?
He refused to be drawn into stating how and when he will finish off Morales.
?I don?t want to make any prediction in this fight, except that I?m going to do my best to bring honor to the country,? said the 27-year-old southpaw from Gen. Santos. ?I feel like this fight is, you know, a fight like there?s no tomorrow.?
Pacquiao still went through his usual road work at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Pacquiao (42-3-2, 32 KOs) and Morales (48-4, 34 KOs) will reportedly be paid $3 million for this match. Morales, though, is bound by contract to pay $500,000 for every pound he weighs above the 130 limit for super featherweights.
?But I?m sure he?ll make the weight because Erik Morales is a professional,? Roach said.
Pacquiao also played around with photographers and posed in front of them, muscles flexed. When someone remarked that he had Bruce Lee?s physique, Pacquiao mimicked the late martial arts superstar?s trademark nose-thumbing, illiciting laughter.
