Buboy wants fast KO
Manny Pacquiao’s marching order would come out with guns blazing right at the opening bell and try to take out Adrien Broner as early as he can.
“Sabi ko sa kanya, engage kaagad. Huwag nang bigyan ng pagkakataon (I told him to engage immediately. Don’t give Broner a chance),” Pacquiao’s head trainer and best friend Buboy Fernandez told Filipino scribes right before they broke camp in Los Angeles on Monday (Tuesday, PHL time).
After running in the morning, Pacquiao held one final light workout at Freddie Roach’s famed Wild Card Gym before heading to Las Vegas, leading a traditional multiple-vehicle convoy.
He and his family are billeted at a luxurious twofloor suite the MGM Grand Garden here, also the venue of Saturday’s bout (Sunday Manila time).
The Filipino icon earlier declared he wants to stop Broner, having been reinvigorated by his first knockout win in almost a decade — a seventh-round TKO victory over Lucas Matthysse last year.
“It’s really very important to me (to win by knockout),” Pacquiao told reporters after emerging fresh from the locker room.
Fernandez told him he wants Broner gone as early as the first round.
“Kung pwede mong kunin, kunin. Hanggat may pagkakataon, sumagasa ka na (If you can get the KO, then get it. If there’s an opening, run him over),” said Pacquiao’s stocky trainer.
The Filipino icon, however, knows it’s not an easy job as Broner has never been stopped before.
"It’s a challenge," said Pacquiao.
But as the saying goes, there’s always a first time.
Pacquiao, the defending WBA welterweight champion, is a -280 favorite over Broner at the betting lines here. This means a $280 bet on the fighting senator will yield you only $100. —