Pacquiao camp predicts Horn fight will be ‘short and sweet’

Knockout likely: Roach

BRISBANE, Australia, June 28, (AP): 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 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 (72 Fahrenheit).

It will be broadcast live on the US east coast at 9 pm on Saturday by ESPN, with Pacquiao’s handlers expecting the timing to expose the Filipino boxer to millions of new fans.

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. “Where he’s talking about an early stoppage I don’t see that at all.

“I see this going deep. I think it’ll be a late stoppage after a torrid war. I do think Freddie and Manny are underestimating Jeff ... (and) when they get out there, it’s going to be so different.”

Horn’s promotor Dean Lonergan also picked up on the theme, highlighting Pacquiao’s continual attention to his cell phone during Wednesday’s official news conference and describing the 11time world champion Filipino fighter as a “world champion texter.”

Pacquiao