Pacquiao not guaranteeing KO vs Horn: ‘Just wait and see’
Manny Pacquiao. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
BRISBANE, Australia—Manny Pacquiao won’t guarantee a knockout, but will definitely go for a stoppage against Jeff Horn on July 2 here.
“I’ll do everything in my power to do it (knockout),” Pacquiao said in Filipino on Sunday at the lobby of Sofitel, where he and Team Pacuiao members are billeted for his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown showdown with Horn at Suncorp stadium.
“I’m ready. Ready because I’ve done everything necessary,” Pacquiao added. “Light training only for the whole week.”
Reinvigorated by a rain-induced training break on Saturday, Pacquiao was in a light mood, having attended morning church service at Worship Center, where he was administered a pray over, with wife Jinkee.
Instead of resting in the afternoon, however, Pacquiao decided to sweat it out and do some running in the vicinity of the hotel.
“Just to feel the (cool, fresh) air,” Pacquiao said before going up to his suite to freshen up and eat.
Installed as a heavy favorite aganst the unbeaten Horn (16-win, 1-draw, 11 knockouts), Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) refused to predict a short fight.
“Let’s just wait and see,” Pacquiao said. “I’ll strive for it.”
Justin Fortune, Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach believes Pacquiao can easily do it (knockout) if the Fighting Senator really puts his heart into it.
“It’s entirely up to Manny,” Fortune, who hails from Sydney but is now based in Hollywood, said Saturday night after Team Pacquiao’s arrival via a chartered Air Asia jet to this charming, clean city.
“If he really puts his mind into it, he can knock out anybody (including Floyd Mayweather) within four rounds.”
Fortune, who’s giving Horn virtually no chances of upsetting Pacquiao , said the eight-division, 11-time world champion will have his first and last sparring session here Monday.
Though the gym is likely to be ordered off-limits to the media by chief trainer Freddie Roach, Fortune feels it will no loner make any difference if the Horn camp gets information or sees what Pacquiao has in store for them on Sunday.
Pacquiao, according to Fortune, will be out to impress and prove that at 38 he’s still one of the world’s best fighters.
And Pacquiao will deliver the message across by way of a quick knockout.
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