MANILA, Philippines--All things being unequal, all that Manny Pacquiao may have to do to ensure victory in Las Vegas on Sunday is avoid being dragged and trapped in a telephone booth slug-out with David Diaz.

With his tremendous edge in firepower, Pacquiao could easily sustain a slashing offensive and prevail.

But, at the same time, he should not yield to pressure and avoid being caught in a toe-to-toe, dungeon-like battle with the reigning World Boxing Council lightweight champion, who is the awful underdog.

The unrealistic pre-fight odds attest to Pacquiao's edge in practically all departments.

However, it's not easy to buy trainer Freddie Roach's boast that Diaz would need a miracle to conquer Pacquiao.

Dangers do lurk for the highly favored Filipino boxing superhero.

For one, it was neither wise nor fair to claim that Pacquiao could not be bothered by a southpaw like Diaz.

A flashback would reveal that the first knockout in Pacquiao's career came courtesy of a left hook to the chin by Rustico Torrecampo, a southpaw.

Next, Pacquiao went down cockeyed after absorbing a stiff left straight to the tip of the chin from Nedal Hussein at the Casino Filipino, requiring timely assistance from a very patriotic Pinoy referee, which enabled the Pacman to get up and resume fighting.

It was also a thumping left to the rib cage that visibly jarred Pacquiao in the middle rounds of his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez--a sight that prompted an American analyst to state that "Pacquiao was not invincible after all."

Biggest danger

Above this, both combatants in the WBC lightweight title bout being lefthanders, there's the ugly possibility of an errant head butt opening another wound over Pacquiao's brittle eyebrow, the sort of accident that bothered him no end in his second fight with Marquez.

Still the biggest danger for Pacquiao is for him to be dragged and trapped in the tight interior stadium, a favorite Diaz turf.

Diaz will, indeed, prove an open target for the sharp, hard-hitting Pacquiao in the earlier rounds, but things could take a drastic turn if the defending WBC lightweight titlist manages to hang on and extends the brawl to the wind-up rounds.

Power for power

If this happens, and there are solid signs Diaz is capable surviving early punishment, the bout would be decided in a ring that would seem no wider than a telephone booth, or an airless, blood-smeared dungeon where boxing's fiercest wars are won and lost.

Said Diaz: "I will shock the world and beat Pacquiao at his own game, power for power. He's a great champion, but he's fighting in my division--lightweight. I have worked too hard for this world title and I will not give it up to him."

Diaz added: "I have always done pretty good against southpaws. I hit them, so I really should be all right."

Avoiding the bombs

Anyway, what loomed on the eve of the weigh-in was that a Pacquiao victory would hinge on his ability--more than on his firepower--to absorb and survive the patented body bombardment from Diaz.

Roach says Pacquiao has developed a dazzling footwork to avoid the bombs to the body, but there has been no assurance so far about Pacman's internal resiliency.

To repeat, the slower Diaz, who could be a sucker for Pacquiao's patented jab-straight salvo, is indeed easy to hit in the open, although the 32-year-old WBC champ has an uncanny way of rolling with the punches to lessen their impact.

No-tomorrow brawl

Pacquiao, on the other hand, has yet to correct his inexplicable practice of catching punches frontally, virtually munching at the leather, instead of trying ways to deaden the fire and steel of coming blows.

The better, tougher fighter will win and the Diaz-Pacquiao bout promises to be a no-tomorrow, no-holds-barred brawl, a lethal confrontation between a sensational Pacific storm and an almost silent warrior tagged as the modern-day Raging Bull.