Merchant: It could be a violent dance

MACAU—Manny Pacquiao turned his brief stint at the presscon microphone on Wednesday evening here into a serious sermon on nonviolence.

Without making direct reference to members of Team Rios, who touched off a scuffle around the training gym in the morning, Pacquiao called on concerned parties to be more humble and practice true professionalism.

“Our job here is to fight our best for the public, and please forget about the trash-talking,” Pacquiao said.

It was a big contrast to the pronouncements of Brandon Rios who warned those who had downgraded him by calling him a “tuneup match.”

“I’m nobody’s tuneup match,” Rios blurted. “If a punching bag, I’m a punching bag that hits back, very hard!”

Rios swore he has trained truly long and hard, if just to disprove and shame .

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A luminous presence at the media center here the morning after the evening press conference was the venerable boxing guru Larry Merchant.

Merchant, vibrant at 82, told the Inquirer he foresees a win by Pacquiao.

But, given the difference in style, not to mention Pacquiao’s awesome edge in speed and experience, could there be the likelihood of a mismatch?

“Rios, younger, has been given an elder foe who’s coming in from two losses and a year-long layoff,” Merchant said. “It’s for Rios to exploit that situation.”

Merchant said he also foresees a very active contest.

“If it turns into something else, it should be a violent dance.”

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Before Merchant checked in at the Venetian Macao, his third trip to China, promoter Bob Arum had said he was lining up two fights for Pacquiao next year.

In fact, WBO welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov is expected at ringside during the Pacquiao-Rios clash for the WBO International welterweight championship around noontime on Sunday. Arum said Provodnikov, known as the Siberian Rocky, would be a very saleable foe for Pacquiao.

Meanwhile, in his turn to talk to Merchant, Filipino boxing specialist Hermie Rivera, here to cheer and assist the Pacquiao campaign, was told Pacquiao, pushing 35, “should start considering retirement if he fails against the 27-year-old Rios.”