Sunday, October 07, 2007 Pacquiao zapped by weight problem?
LAS VEGAS — Around noon time yesterday, while credentialed reporters were having lunch, whispers of a minor problem in the Pacman camp bounced off the walls of the media center.
Word leaked that Manny Pacquiao woke up weighing 133 pounds. And it floated around the Mandalay Bay like fresh gossip at the corner market.
The weight issue meant two things: 1.) That Pacquiao was three pounds over the super featherweight limit and 2) That he must lose that excess mass before the 2:30 p.m. official weigh-in.
So Manny went to work. He proceeded to the spa and marched his feet on the treadmill like a man on a mission. At around 12 noon, 2 ½ hours before his appointment with the scale, Manny had shed two unwanted pounds.
An annoying pound still had to go, but his handlers, worried about their star fighter losing too much moisture, decided to let Manny rest.
At around 2:42 pm, before a roaring crowd of about 3,000 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Manny finally met the scale.
And he rode it gently, like a savvy equestrian taming a shy, reluctant horse. After a statue’s pose, keeping both hands trained downward, Michael Buffer announced Pacquiao’s official weight—130 pounds. Right on the dot.
Marco Antonio Barrera, who climbed the scales first, also weighed 130.
But there was a stark contrast on how they got there.
“Barrera looked very fresh, “ said Manila Bulletin’s Nick Giongco, a veteran of countless Pacquiao coverages.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, looked disheveled and “gaunt,” observed Recah
Trinidad, who added that Manny was “a ghost of himself.”
Asked by Sun.Star Cebu to rate Pacman’s strength in the immediate aftermath of the weigh-in, Trinidad, a foremost boxing scholar gave a below par “60 percent.”
But Trinidad stressed that Pacquiao maintains a decided edge against the aging Barrera, a surefire Hall-of-Famer in the twilight of a long career.
The sports book at the Mandalay Bay agreed, placing the odds heavily in favor of Pacquiao—minus 340, which means a bet of $340 for the Pinoy warrior only collects a $100 windfall.
Barrera, meanwhile, is a plus-280 underdog, which means that a $100 wager on Barrera will gain a $280 reward.
Three wealthy Filipinos, including a general in the military, were reported to be partially responsible for the tilting of the odds. (HDS)
