By REYNALD MAGALLON
While Mario Barrios has nothing but kind words to a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao, the same cannot be said when they finally share the ring in their World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight championship bout on Sunday, July 20 (Manila time) at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
The 30-year-old defending champion, who has youth and size as his ally, said he will have nothing but bad intentions against the Hall of Famer come fight night.
And he expects the same from Manny.
“I’m not going in there looking for a knockout but I’m going in there with bad intentions,” said Barrios
“I know I have power in both hands. If I see him hurt at any point I will not hesitate to pull the trigger and (I know) it’s the same for him. It’s just business,” he added.
Barrios insisted that he’s not falling for Pacquiao’s ‘good man’ ploy outside the ring, knowing full well how dangerous he can be when the bell rings.
And that’s exactly why his camp, led by trainer Bob Santos, made sure Barrios will be prepared to face the best of Pacquiao.
“Training has been great. We’ve been putting in some serious work. I feel like we have a really good game plan coming into this fight. I’m just ready to step in there,” said Barrios, who trained himself fighting against southpaws all throughout his 14-week training camp.
“He’s definitely one of a kind. It wasn’t an easy style to copy in training camp so we got as many as southpaws look as we could but I feel like we did a really good job and we did all the necessary rounds in,” he furthered.
And since Father Time is Pacquiao’s biggest opponent during the fight, Barrios ought to test and push the Filipino boxing great, who will be coming off a four-year fight hiatus, to his limits.
“I’ll try to test everything come fight night whether he can still keep up at his level. “I’ve been preparing for 12 rounds of non-stop action because I know the style he brings when he steps into the ring. I’m looking to test him in every way,” said the champion.
