DALLAS – He must have had a drink too many for him to say some nasty things about Manny Pacquiao.
“Manny’s going straight to the hospital after the fight,” Kwaku Gyamfi, a member of Team Clottey, told Pinoy scribes, who chanced upon him at the cozy Silver Bar of the Gaylord Texan Hotel Tuesday evening.
It was just a little past 8 p.m., and Gyamfi, the chief cook of Clottey, sounded like he was in there the whole day. He was seated at the bar, facing a couple glasses of what looked like vodka mix, and enjoying them.
He sounded too excited talking about the coming fight, talking about a Clottey win.
“Manny will be all cut up and bruised. It’s gonna be messy,” said Kwaku, motioning with his hands that Pacquiao will be cut all over his eyes, his nose and his mouth.
“He’s going to be hit by a brick.”
Pacquiao, almost an 8-1 favorite to beat Clottey at the Cowboys Stadium on Saturday, has lined up a few of his favorite songs for his after-fight party-concert at the Gold Club of the Texas Rangers ballpark.
It’s been a tradition for Pacquiao to host a gig for his fans after each fight.
Too bad, Kwaku said, the 31-year-old pound-for-pound champion from the Philippines won’t be able to join his fans.
“He won’t be able to perform after the fight. For the first time he won’t be able to perform,” said Kwaku.
Just outside the bar, Clottey’s chief trainer, Lenny de Jesus, stood, and spoke to the Manila reporters. He gave his thoughts on the fight.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be interesting,” he said.
“And this is a dangerous fight for Manny. You can tell it because Freddie is not talking too much. If he knew this is going to be an easy fight, he would be talking a lot more. But he’s being careful with what he’s saying.”
The 64-year-old De Jesus, who worked as Pacquiao’s cutman in five fights with Emmanuel Lucero in 2003 to Erik Morales in 2005, has their gameplan ready, and that’s to “hit him (Pacquiao) right, knock him out and win the fight.”
He said Clottey logged in 90 rounds of sparring for this fight, much, much less than Pacquiao’s 142 total.
“It’s because Joshua sent all of them out of the ring after four rounds,” said De Jesus. – Abac Cordero