Pacquiao hits 140 lbs a week before fight

HOLLYWOOD -- WHILE WINDING DOWN his training on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Manny Pacquiao took off his sweaty red shirt to flaunt his well-chiseled body and bulging muscles.

Then, while doing abdominal strengthening exercises, he blurted out: “Am I small at 140?”

Pacquiao actually doesn’t look like somebody who can readily be swept aside by a bigger guy like Ricky Hatton.

Pacquiao, in fact, overpowered sparring partners Alisher Rahimov and David Rodela in five rounds with his dazzling speed.

As it turned out, Pacquiao had already made the 140-pound limit for his light welterweight clash with Hatton a week before the megabuck bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“He didn’t even need to diet,” assistant trainer Nonoy Neri said in Filipino. “Hard work in training kept his weight in check.”

Neri’s disclosure was rather surprising as master trainer Freddie Roach put Pacquiao’s weight at around 145 on Thursday.

Based on Pacquiao’s movements, however, his weight is likely to be less as he zooms and glides with power to match during the training session presided by three-time former heavyweight champ Michael Moorer.

Atlanta Olympic silver medalist Onyok Velasco, now a close pal of Pacquiao, was impressed.

“He (Manny) is very fast and strong,” said Velasco in Filipino.

Matchmaker and Pacquiao confidant Wakee Salud added that Pacquiao seems to have gotten stronger than when he stopped Oscar De La Hoya at 147 lb last Dec. 6.

Rodela, who was knocked down by a body blow from Pacquiao during sparring last week, also praised Pacquiao.

“Damn, he’s too fast,” said Rodela. “I was about to catch him and then he was gone.”

Despite the betting odds piling up in his favor, Pacquiao, however, refuses to be drawn into complacency.

“I don’t know why people trust me so much,” said Pacquiao.

Pacquiao even likened the bout, a blockbuster with 16,300 tickets sold to a cockfight.

“We both have spurs and gaffers, so let’s just wait and see,” he said. Team Pacquiao will proceed to Las Vegas on Monday.

NOTES: Amir Khan, the rising British star who beat Marco Antonio Barrera last month, dropped by at Wild Card on Friday. He went to see Pacquiao, with whom he was able to spar with at Wild Card… Aside from Bernabe Concepcion, another Filipino, lightweight Dennis Laurente will be seeing action in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Hatton showdown, where he fights Marvin Cordova Jr. (20-0-1 with 11KOs)… Rodel Mayol guns for Ivan Calderon’s WBO light flyweight crown on June 13 at the Madison Square Garden in New York… The presence of his mother Dionisia, brothers Bobby and Roel and wife Jinkee inspires Manny to go the extra mile in training… Team Pacquiao members are in a for windfall as Manny is going to reward with a substantial amount those who surpass his weight challenge of reducing by 10 percent their respective weights on Sunday.(By Roy Luarca)