Fight odds make Manny uneasy

LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao isn’t too happy being tagged as the overwhelming favorite.

Or at least, that’s the way he sounded.

"Sobra naman ang tiwala nila sa akin (They’re putting too much trust on me)," said Pacquiao Monday, the day the odds on his upcoming fight against Erik Morales continued to soar to his favor.

From -210 Sunday evening, Pacquiao is now -220 at Sports Book, the official and state-of-the-art betting station in this luminous city of 24-hour parties and non-stop entertainment.

It means that a straight bet of $220 on a Pacquiao win would win just $100. On the other side, Morales is at +190 in that a $100 bet would net $190, a dividend as handsome as the Mexican fighter.

When the Sports Book betting opened a few days back, the 27-year-old Pacquiao was already the clear favorite. He was -185 while the 30-year-old Morales was at +165.

There are a more than dozen betting propositions for the 12-round fight scheduled Saturday at the Thomas and Mack Center. It’s the third and decisive fight between the two.

Sports fans can also place bets that the fight will go 12 rounds (-155) or that it won’t go 12 rounds (+135). With only five days before the fight, there are more who believe that the fight would last the distance.

People can also bet on Morales winning by decision (5/2) or knockout (4/1), Pacquiao by decision (7/5) or knockout (2/1), and if the fight would end up in a draw where the odds are biggest at 12/1.

Then there’s the round-by-round proposition with either Morales or Pacquiao winning via knockout in the first round, all the way to the second, third, fourth, fifth and so on.

The odds of Morales winning by KO in the first three rounds are 25/1 and for Pacquiao it’s 20/1 under the same scenario.

Pacquiao, who also played the role of the favorite in his first two meetings with Morales, said it doesn’t really matter what the oddsmakers say before the fight.

"Papel lang kasi ito eh (This is just a piece of paper)," said Pacquiao as he held the latest print-out of the Sports Book betting guide for Saturday’s blockbuster fight.

He said everything becomes even the moment the fighters climb the ring.