Pacquiao: One punch could end it

PACQUIAO: 145 lb      RIOS: 146.5 lb   AP

MACAU—Watch out for the one-punch knockout.

Manny Pacquiao sent this message across to Manila-based sportswriters as he reflects on the possible outcome of his 12-round welterweight tussle with Brandon Rios at the 15,000-seater Cotai Arena on Sunday afternoon here.

“You know the story of David and Goliath right? It took just one strike to end the fight,” said Pacquiao, while slumped on the sofa of his 38th floor suite at The Venetian South with pregnant wife, Jinkee, Friday night.

It was a hint that Pacquiao has run out of patience and is eager to silence Brandon Rios, who boasted of sending him into retirement with a knockout inside four rounds.

“They (Team Rios) are all talk,” Pacquiao said in Filipino. “Words are meaningless.  They should be ready for I have prepared myself well (for this fight).”

According to Pacquiao, he’s covered all bases and won’t be caught napping with whatever strategy Rios will bring in to the ring.

Pacquiao feels Rios, who’s noted for pressuring and wearing down his opponents, may yet abandon that style and refuse a slugfest.

“He might run,” said Pacquiao, noting that 2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia is likely to adopt the strategy Timothy Bradley used when they fought on June 9, 2012 in Las Vegas. “That’s my gut feel, but I am prepared if he (Rios) does that.”

Despite backpedaling most of the time, Bradley got the nod of two of three judges in a highly controversial decision. A panel of veteran judges formed by the World Boxing Organization reviewed the bout and came up with the unanimous verdict that Pacquiao should have been the clear winner.

Despite coming off a brutal one-punch knockout loss to arch nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez last December, Pacquiao said he’ll fight without fear on Sunday. The only difference is, he’ll be more patient when going for the kill.