MANNY PACQUIAO sees himself in the person of South Korean Injin Chi on that unforgettable late-autumn night in San Antonio, Texas, over three years ago.
‘’You know this guy Injin Chi had been longing to fight me,’’ Pacquiao said yesterday when asked about the status of his proposed late-April clash with Chi in Macau.
‘’Chi thinks he could beat me and I expect him to be in the best shape of his career when we meet in the ring,’’ said Pacquiao, whose coming-out party happened when he easily knocked out Marco Antonio Barrera, the Mexican legend, on Nov. 15, 2003, at the Alamodome.
A heavy underdog going into the bout, Pacquiao sees the similarities between him and Chi and this is one reason why he intends to work out in his native General Santos City for two weeks before heading to the Wild Card in Hollywood, California, to hook up with Freddie Roach’s right-hand man, Australian conditioning coach Justin Fortune.
Roach has signed a contract to train Oscar dela Hoya in Puerto Rico for the May 5 duel with Floyd Mayweeather Jr. and in a rare opportunity, he won’t be around when the Filipino southpaw begins training at the Wild Card.
‘’Chi badly wants to win against me and I know that,’’ said Pacquiao, agreeing that he will suffer the same fate as Barrera if he takes the rock-hard Korean lightly.
While a collision course with Chi is on the horizon, Pacquiao’s mind is pre-occupied not only with boxing, billiards and cockfighting but political plans as well.
‘’I have no comment on that issue,’’ said Pacquiao when asked about reports that he is not eligible to run for public office in General Santos owing to a residency conflict.
