Pacquiao: I’m ready to rumble

Pacquiao vs Clottey
By NICK GIONGCO
March 3, 2010, 6:56pm

Manny Pacquiao can’t wait to get his hands on Joshua Clottey.

“I am ready to rumble,” said Pacquiao, who faces the Ghana banger on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

“I can’t wait to get into the ring. I am feeling very good and I am excited to put on a memorable show for the boxing fans. I want to make them happy again,” added the fighter widely regarded today as pound-for-pound king.

Pacquiao’s preparations - his sparring sessions particularly - have actually started to drop in the number of rounds as his team revs up for the trip to Dallas on Monday.

Pacquiao had gone 12 rounds of sparring in one day last week.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, is hosting an open media workout today (Wednesday in the US) with his promoter, Hall of Famer Bob Arum, in attendance at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.

Once he gets to Dallas, Pacquiao will host another open media workout at the basement of the Gaylord Texan Hotel in the city of Grapevine on Tuesday.

Clottey is actually mimicking Pacquiao’s routine.

On Thursday, Clottey will open the Kingsway Gym in New York to members of the media and will do the same thing on Monday in Texas.

The Clottey fight will be Pacquiao’s 18th outing on US soil, the first time in Dallas although he has fought in another Texan city, San Antonio, in 2003 and 2007.

Pacquiao is an overwhelming 5-1 favorite to retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title belt.

Source: mb.com.ph