Pacquiao all focused vs Velazquez

For a change, Manny Pacquiao will enter a fight without distractions and boxing experts and his legions of fans see no reason for him to lose it.

"For this (Hector) Velazquez fight, I am very focused. I am 100 percent. No distractions. No worries," said Pacquiao in an interview with ESPN.com.

The Filipino champ has stepped up his training for his keenly-awaited 12-round clash with Velazquez on Sept. 10 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

It will be Pacquiao’s first step toward a dream rematch with Erik Morales with whom he will share the "Double Trouble" card. Morales, who outpointed Pacquiao in a sensational brawl March 19, faces Zahir Raheem in the 12-round main event.

Victories by Pacquiao and Morales will set up the rematch in early 2006.

With his promotional situation under control and his new management team in place, Pacquiao has been training in peace without the swarm of fans, which used to mill inside and outside of the Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym in Hollywood in his previous US fights.

"I had to close the gym now for Manny because there were just too many distractions," said Roach, Pacquiao’s noted American trainer. "Manny’s Filipino audience loves to watch him, but it became too much."

"We love his fans, but we wanted it more private so we could work on the things we need to work on without him playing to the crowd. For the most part, they’ve respected it. I’ve told them if they are really Manny’s true fans, they’ll let him train properly. They want Manny to win, so they’ve been good about it.

"So training camp is going very well. We’re a little bit quieter this time. We have room to breath this time," added Roach.

"This training camp is good for me," he said. "I like doing my training with the gym closed. Nobody can distract me and bother my training. I like that," said Pacquiao.

The biggest distraction in the Filipino fighter’s last fight was his disintegrating relationship with promoter Murad Muhammad, who is now out of the Pacquiao equation.

Pacquiao, 26, blamed Muhammad for cheating him out of large chunks of his purses, including from the Morales fight and his November 2003 upset knockout of Marco Antonio Barrera. Pacquiao alleged that Muhammad took the money and placed it in a shell corporation meant to pay Pacquiao’s taxes.