Pacquiao hungry to make statement

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Nat's is a hole-in-the-wall joint in a strip mall on Vine Street located a couple hundred feet from where Manny Pacquiao has been training for Saturday's 147-pound fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

It serves homemade Thai food and seats 22 people. Every day around 5 p.m., Pacquiao and his team take over the place and have dinner. They'll spend anywhere from $400 to $500 a day, and that is the reason Tina Sridakun didn't sell the place and move to Las Vegas two years ago.

"He saved my business," she said of Pacquiao, who discovered the place while training at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Boxing Club and has been a regular ever since. "After Manny started coming in, I decided to stay."

Pacquiao is trying to do more than save businesses. He's trying to keep boxing propped up as the sport's top pound-for-pound fighter. When he and De La Hoya step inside the ropes at the MGM Grand Garden, they will represent the biggest names boxing has to offer.

Pacquiao, who has fought at 130 and 135 pounds this year in beating Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz, will fight at 147 for the first time. He knows he might be overextending himself, but he said he is not afraid to try. When your entire country is behind you, as is the case with Pacquiao and the people of the Philippines, anything is possible.

"I feel their strength behind me," Pacquiao said in a patriotic tone. "Whenever I fight, I fight for my country."

Win or lose, Pacquiao (47-3-2, 36 knockouts) said his future is at 140 pounds. A lot of lucrative paydays are at the junior welterweight level. Ricky Hatton wants to fight him. So does Kendall Holt. Paulie Malignaggi would love a crack at him. And there's Marquez, who lost a tough 12-round split decision to Pacquiao on March 15 at Mandalay Bay. He, more than anyone else, wants another shot at Pacquiao.

As he sits down to eat after a three-hour workout with Roach, his March 15 fight with Marquez is being shown on one of the walls at Nat's. While the others in his entourage eat, laugh and talk among themselves, Pacquiao's eyes are riveted to the action. He even sings along with the Mexican national anthem before the opening bell.

"MEXICANOS, AL GRITO DE GUERRA, "EL ACERO APRESTAD Y EL BRIDÓN; "Y RETIEMBLE EN SUS CENTROS LA TIERRA, "AL SONORO RUGIR DEL CAÑÓN.

"CIÑA OH PATRIA! TUS SIENES DE OLIVA,

"DE LA PAZ EL ARCÁNGEL DIVINO.

"QUE EN EL CIELO TU ETERNO DESTINO,

"POR EL DEDO DE DIOS SE ESCRIBIÓ."

It was a tough, brutal fight. He watches his knockdown of Marquez in the third round, points to the image on the wall and laughs. But he's not laughing as Marquez dominates him in the eighth round, hitting him in the face with combinations and opening a couple of cuts over Pacquiao's right eye.

Strangely, the tape stops before the end of the fight. Pacquiao, who has been picking at his meal of rice, chicken and vegetables while watching the tape, quickly returned his focus to the present.

That means finding a way to avoid De La Hoya's powerful left hook. It also means proving to himself that his speed won't desert him as he moves up to the heaviest weight at which he has fought.

"I feel strong and just as quick," Pacquiao said. "I have been able to eat whatever I want, which I like. I am very comfortable right now."

He weighed 150 pounds Nov. 12. Making 147 doesn't figure to be a problem come Friday's weigh-in at the Grand Garden.

As for the 35-year-old De La Hoya (39-5, 30 knockouts), Pacquiao speaks with nothing but respect and reverence. He refuses to bad-mouth his opponent, leaving that task to his trainer, Roach, who used to train De La Hoya.

Pacquiao's workout would tax the best of athletes. He went the equivalent of 12 rounds hitting the mitts with Roach. He did another 30 minutes of shadow boxing, 20 minutes on the speed bag, skipped rope and did 1,000 situps, all without taking a break.

"This fight is very important to me and my country," Pacquiao said. "We know Oscar is a very popular fighter and this is different because of the weight. It's going to be harder."

To address that issue, Pacquiao has added another element to his regimen. Alex Ariza has been with Pacquiao working as his strength coach. His job was to get Pacquiao bigger and stronger without compromising his speed and quickness.

Ariza, who also works with football players, hockey players and mixed martial arts fighters, talks high-tech when he discusses Pacquiao.

"With Manny, we devised a high-intensity interval ballistic system," Ariza said. "It's a way to build functional muscle and help develop explosiveness."

It looks right as Pacquiao goes about his business. His increased power is evident as he cracks the mitts on Roach's hands. The sound reverberates in the gym. His quickness is there as he moves his head side to side, his feet allowing his body to elude punches. Roach brought in British junior welterweight star Amir Kahn to spar with Pacquiao and was pleased with the results.

"We had great sparring for this fight," Roach said of the sessions, which have been held behind closed doors. In fact, the gym is closed from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every day that Pacquiao trains. A sign on the door says, "Sorry for the Inconvenience." But the 100 people who train daily at Roach's gym understand.

Roach had built a special room for Pacquiao to train in private. But Pacquiao said no. He preferred to train where the other fighters train.

"There's not a lot of air in there," he said, pointing to his private room that other fighters get to use when Pacquiao is gone. "I like it better in here."

Pacquiao is going overtime with his training on this day. Twenty people are congregated outside the door to the gym looking to get started on their workouts. It's after 4 p.m., and Roach decides to let them in. But everyone gives Pacquiao a wide berth.

Yet he doesn't seem to mind having company. So as an overweight woman works out on a treadmill in an attempt to shed a few pounds, boxing's best performer is less than 10 feet away getting hit in the abdomen with a 1-inch-thick dowel by one of Roach's assistants. The exercise is painful to watch, and Pacquiao winces as he absorbs blow after blow.

It's not the same as getting tagged by De La Hoya's signature left hook. But Roach is not leaving anything to chance.

"He'll be the best Pacquiao anyone has seen," Roach said. "I've never seen him more dedicated to preparing for a fight like this one."

Indeed. Pacquiao has abstained from his real passion, basketball, for this fight. He and Roach have an agreement that he'll play until four weeks before a fight. Not this time. He has stayed off the court during virtually all of his two-month camp in Los Angeles. His basketball is limited to watching NBA games on television at his rented house.

"This is the hardest training I've done in my career," Pacquiao said. "I understand he's very strong, but I believe I can handle his power."

Back at Nat's, with the Marquez tape rewinding, Pacquiao finishes dinner and allows himself a luxury -- dessert. It's coconut milk pudding with green raisins. Pacquiao loves sweets. But normally, he wouldn't go near any during training.

But this isn't a normal fight. When you're used to fighting at 130, 135 pounds and suddenly you're up to 147, you can have dessert.

Pacquiao knows this is a one-shot deal at this weight class, and he's taking full advantage of the opportunity. Which means Tina can bring him more pudding and keep her business prospering.

For her, Vegas can wait.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.