Pacquiao raring to go

If there’s one guy at the Wild Card Boxing Club who knows Manny Pacquiao other than Freddie Roach, that’s Australian conditioning coach Justin Fortune.

Fortune is Wild Card guru Freddie Roach’s chief assistant, caretaker whenever Roach is away and he’s been in all of Pacquiao’s most memorable fights on US soil.

On Saturday afternoon, Fortune saw one significant sign that he knew is an indication of Pacquiao’s readiness for this week’s showdown with unheralded but dangerous Mexican puncher Jorge Solis.

"Once he does that, he’s ready," said Fortune after watching Pacquiao’s final and five-round sparring session in preparation for Solis, referring to the Filipino southpaw’s full display of antics against regular sparmate, the tall and rangy David Rodela.

Pacquiao and his team depart for San Antonio via American Airlines at 2:25 p.m. The non-stop flight will last three hours and he will be welcomed there by the first wave of Team Pacquiao members that will leave at 10:15 a.m. using LAX airport with a brief layover in Dallas.

On the eve of his departure for Texas, site of his epic knockout win over Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003, Pacquiao looked superb in his workout.

"He (Pacquiao) doesn’t want to stop (training)," said Buboy Fernandez, who will help out in the cornerwork.

Pacquiao struck Rodela at least twice with his two fists, reminiscent of what the late action king Fernando Poe Jr. did in beating up countless villains in his movies.

On two occasions, Pacquiao rushed towards Rodela’s corner and threatened to whale away in reckless abandon without the startled sparmate’s knowledge and Pacquiao broke into laughter upon seeing the reaction on Rodela’s face.

"I knew that I was ready for this fight when I did 12 rounds of sparring last week," said Pacquiao as he was having a dinner of chicken tinola, fried fish and steamed rice at his apartment unit at the Palazzo, where members of his entourage and visitors congregate everyday after training.

Still, Pacquiao went serious a few times and whenever he opted to change his demeanor, he threw punches as though the guy in front of him was someone who stole his retirement money.

While Pacquiao’s mood was very relaxed, there was a brief moment just before he went down the ring to change that he became serious.

The fighter bowed his head in the corner where he usually gets pointers from his trainers and mumbled a prayer and the Wild Card’s chief of security, Rob Peters, had to politely ask everybody to pause for a moment of silence.

Pacquiao then thanked everyone in attendance as in the past and the crowd applauded the simple gesture.