LOS ANGELES – While acknowledging that May 2 is going to be the biggest fight of his life, Manny Pacquiao doesn’t see Floyd Mayweather as somebody who could send shivers down his spine.
“I have no worries for this fight,” said Pacquiao just before taking centerstage during Wednesday’s press conference at the Nokia Theatre.
Pacquiao says that while Mayweather poses problems, the undefeated US fighter doesn’t have the ‘fear factor’ that Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Oscar De La Hoya had.
“I had more concerns when I prepared for De La Hoya, Margarito and Cotto,” said Pacquiao, who believes his constant pressure will bring Mayweather to his knees in their unification welterweight war at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Trainer Freddie Roach, despite regarding this as the biggest fight of his life, remains upbeat that they’ll get the job done.
“We are going to kick his (Mayweather) ass,” boasted Roach, who just returned from Macau and will handle the remaining seven weeks of Pacquiao’s preparation.
Pacquiao abandoned training on Wednesday as he had to fulfill his promotional obligations as early as 9 am.
The press conference didn’t finish until it was 2:30 and even after that, Pacquiao – and even Mayweather – had to stay a bit behind to do some more interviews.
Plans to do morning roadwork was even junked although Pacquiao was looking forward to doing it, saying he might be able to squeeze it in.
But owing to the tight schedule, Pacquiao was unable to succeed and will instead resume his training Thursday and will hardly miss skip a beat until the final days leading to fight week.
Pacquiao arrived here last Feb. 28 and plunged into training mode a few days later under the supervision of strength coach Justin Fortune.
It’s full steam ahead for Pacquiao.