Pacquiao ready for war

International Boxing Federation (IBF) superbantamweight champion Manny Pacquiao went out shopping in Los Angeles a few days ago and bought himself a snazzy suit and necktie to wear when he returns home in style next week.

Obviously, Pacquiao doesn’t intend to lose to World Boxing Organization (WBO) titlist Agapito Sanchez of the Dominican Republic in their scheduled 12-round unification bout at the 7,000-seat Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco this Saturday (Sunday morning, Manila time).

The word from Pacquiao’s camp is he’s been practicing how to walk around with two championship belts strapped on his waist.

Pacquiao trained nearly three weeks under Freddie Roach at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles before relocating to San Francisco yesterday.

Roach, who learned the tricks of the trade as the late Eddie Futch’s long-time assistant, has declared Pacquiao ready for war.

"He’s looking good," said Roach, quoted by Andy Rivera in popular boxing website. "His weight is already at 124 (the superbantamweight limit is 122). So he’s ready to go. Manny is in great shape. We know Sanchez is a tough fighter. We saw him win the (WBO) title on the same card Manny won his. We expect a tough fight but Manny will win."

Marty Denkin–the controversial referee who slapped a point deduction on Gerry Peñalosa for a wet corner that caused In Joo Cho to slip during their WBC superflyweight title rematch in Seoul last year – will be the third man in the ring. The judges are Marshall Walker, Raul Caiz, and Ricardo Bays.

Roach said the plan is for Pacquiao to unify the 122-pound titles but the problem is WBC champion Willie Jorrin isn’t too keen on facing the hard-hitting Filipino. Eventually, Roach predicted that Pacquiao will move up to fight in the 126-pound featherweight division.

"We know the money fights are at 126–you got the Prince (Naseem Hamed), (Marco Antonio) Barrera, (Erik) Morales, even (Johnny) Tapia’s