Pacquiao remains cool, composed as fight nears

Pacquiao vs Clottey
Betting odds soar for pound-for-pound king
By NICK GIONGCO
March 8, 2010, 7:05pm

LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao was in his favorite gangster get-up on a drizzling day that he spent whiling away time with his friends, looking and behaving very much like the sinister crime chief that has been immortalized in print and in film.

Pacquiao, who stakes his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown against Joshua Clottey at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas this Saturday night, was on hand to personally award the participants of a four-week weight reduction program and for a few moments, his mind was not on the task at hand but on giving his friends something to remember for a long time.

It was only during a brief instance inside his room at the Palazzo where Pacquiao was forced to talk about his upcoming fight, sounding very calm and composed even though it happens in less than a week before a crowd that is expected to number 45,000.

“We‘re ready,” said Pacquiao in between composing text messages in his Blackberry. “There’s nothing more that we can do except maintain my current condition.”

That current condition is the one that has seen him pummel and dazzle his sparring partners with a combination of power and speed, something that has compelled trainer Freddie Roach to make a slight alteration to his original forecast of a ninth-round knockout.

After watching Pacquiao put on a show over the weekend, Roach now believes Clottey will not go past seven rounds.

Even making the agreed weight of 147 lbs is not a concern for Pacquiao, who bared that he is not even making changes in his food consumption.

“I am always eating so that I won’t be under-weight,” said Pacquiao, who is expected to give away between five to ten pounds to the rugged challenger come fight night.

Odds for Pacquiao still rising
The odds in glitzy Las Vegas are so out of whack that you’d think Manny Pacquiao will answer the bell toting a pistol against Joshua Clottey this weekend in Dallas.

Latest odds from Sin City has Pacquiao -800 and Clottey +550, meaning an $800 wager on the Filipino will only win a paltry $100, while a $100 bet on the Ghanaian will win $550, according to Texas-based physician Allan Recto, who informed Manila-based scribes about the latest propositions.

When this fight was announced a little over two months ago, Pacquiao was immediately installed a 4-1 favorite to stave off Clottey’s challenge owing to his sensational wins over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. — Nick Giongco

Source: mb.com.ph