By Allen Estabillo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Nov. 18 (PNA) — Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao is eyeing a big win against undefeated American brawler Chris Algieri in their highly anticipated face-off on Sunday, November 23, in Macau, China.
Pacquiao said he is currently in his best condition and is 100 percent prepared to face Algieri and defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) title.
“I really worked hard and made sacrifices for this fight. I’m now ready to go,” he told reporters here before his team left for Macau late Monday afternoon.
Malaysian low-cost airline Air Asia dispatched two 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft to this city to bring Pacquiao’s entourage, which is the biggest of his 56 career fights so far, to Macau.
The full-capacity flights left the city international airport at past 4 p.m. on Monday.
Pacquiao’s entourage included his team, entire family, parents, siblings, selected friends and neighbors and political allies.
Air Asia offered to carry Pacquiao’s entourage to and from Macau for free after forging an endorsement deal with the ring icon.
Hours before leaving for Macau, Pacquiao completed 15 rounds of jogging and a light workout at the Acharon Sports Complex in Barangay Calumpang here.
He later sparred for five rounds with sparring mate Viktor Postol at the Pacman Wild Card gym.
“He’s in great shape and ready to go,” said coach Freddie Roach, who supervised Pacquiao’s training camp here.
Roach said his ward regained his explosiveness during the rigid training camp, which covered 130 rounds of sparring.
“I do see that he is very explosive and he is very dangerous when in that mood,” he told reporters.
Jose Ramirez, one of Pacquiao’s sparring mates, agreed with Roach’s assessment and sees a big win by the boxing icon.
“Most definitely he’s been looking very explosive. His footwork is very fast. But I think he’s very explosive when he puts his punches together. He is very effective with that,” he said.(PNA)