Pacquiao camp predicting ‘short and sweet’ WBO title fight

Manny Pacquiao isn’t saying it publicly, preferring not to dwell too much on landing a knockout blow.

His trainer, Freddie Roach, isn’t pulling any punches, though. Roach reckons the WBO welterweight world championship fight against Jeff Horn on Sunday will be “short and sweet.”

“Manny is in great shape,” Roach said. “He doesn’t like to predict knockouts, but I do. It’s going to be short and sweet.

“If Horn comes out likes he says he’s gonna, Manny will fire back. I think it’s going to be a great fight but it won’t last too long - someone will get knocked out.”

Pacquiao, who hasn’t won by knockout since 2009, said he has a few strategies to handle Horn, who is unbeaten in 17 fights since turning pro in 2013. The 38-year-old Philippines senator has knocked sparring partners down in training and said he’s feeling better than he has in a while.

Roach said the training camp has been more like a vintage Pacquiao preparation.

“The thing is, in sparring, we haven’t had knockdowns and knockouts in a long time. This time we did,” the legendary trainer said. “Manny has been his old self, having fun and doing what he does best.”

Pacquiao said he likes to fight boxers in front of their home crowd, and recalled a similar bout with Marco Antonio Barrera at San Antonio, Texas, in 2003.

“I feel excited for the fight. Everything is all set,” he said. “I like to fight a home advantage of my opponent so that there are a lot of fans cheering for him. That gives me a lot of motivation, determination and focus to win the fight.

“I’m not taking it lightly. I’m seriously focused.”

The afternoon fight is being dubbed the “Battle of Brisbane” and will be staged at the outdoor Suncorp Stadium, with an expected crowd of more than 50,000 and in forecast sunny skies and a high of about 22 degrees Celsius.

Horn’s trainer, Glenn Rushton, believes Pacquiao’s camp has underestimated the Australian boxer by talking already about future rematches with Floyd Mayweather.

“I believe this fight will end in a stoppage. As much as I respect (Roach) for his wealth of experience – he’s trained more world champions than most boxers have had professional fights – I think he’s wrong,” Rushton said.