Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 | 7:28 a.m.
Who: Manny Pacquiao (44-3-2, 34 KOs) vs. Marco Antonio Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs), super featherweights, 12 scheduled rounds
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Mandalay Bay Events Center
Tickets: $100 to $600; 632-7580, 474-4000, mandalaybay.com
TV: HBO Pay-Per-View; $49.95
He didn't have much time off while training Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines, so Freddie Roach made the most of it.
He took a jet boat to the island province of Bohol, where he saw the Chocolate Hills and a 500-pound python. He even held a couple of tarsiers on his arm.
"I was scared of those little monkeys," Roach said this week at Mandalay Bay, where Pacquiao will fight Marco Antonio Barrera in a super featherweight showdown Saturday night. "They look like gremlins. They'll bite you. As soon as you get close to a tree, they'll jump right out at you."
Back at training camp in Cebu City, there were no gremlins to dodge, but day-to-day life presented its own challenges, given Pacquiao's stature among his countrymen.
An idol in the Philippines, Pacquiao has been likened to Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, John, Paul, George and Ringo rolled into one humble and unassuming 130-pound package .
Even his trainer - "Coach Freddie" to Filipinos - gets caught in the swirl of Pacman mania.
"Just going to the mall, it can take me 2 1/2 hours to get out of there," Roach said. "Fans want photos, autographs. It's unbelievable how popular I am over there just because of Manny."
In Saturday's fight, a rematch of his 2003 technical knockout of Barrera, Pacquiao faces an opponent who's an alter ego of sorts, another man who knows what it's like to carry the hopes of his people into the boxing ring.
Approaching the end of his 18-year, Hall of Fame-caliber professional career, Barrera will be remembered as one of Mexico's finest fighters, along with the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez and Salvador Sanchez.
Since his 11th-round stoppage of Barrera nearly four years ago, Pacquiao has established himself as the most exciting all-around fighter, and perhaps the most fearsome puncher, in the sport.
On the way, he has defeated a string of Mexican fighters - including Jorge Solis, Oscar Larios and Erik Morales twice. It hasn't gone unnoticed by Barrera.
"This fight is about restoring national pride," Barrera said. "This fight is for me and all of the Latino people."
Oscar De La Hoya, co-promoter of Saturday's card with Bob Arum, suspects Barrera publicly anointed himself the defender of Mexico's dignity as motivation.
"Mexico versus the Philippines, that's the way both fighters are playing it," De La Hoya said. "Is Barrera putting extra pressure on himself? I think so. I think he believes it makes him train harder. It makes him believe in himself."
In describing Pacquiao's training routine, Roach and Arum repeatedly emphasize the need to minimize "distractions" - a catch-all code word referring to Pacquiao's myriad outside interests. Potential distractions include appearances on television and in movies and even a recent, ultimately unsuccessful run for Philippine political office.
"I was on the campaign trail with him, and 30,000 people would show up at the campaign stops," Arum said. "They were all there for him, and he sang and he talked to them. He's absolutely loved by the Filipinos.
"The only thing comparable I've seen in my lifetime was when I was promoting Muhammad Ali, particularly after he beat George Foreman (in 1974) to regain the title. You couldn't walk anyplace with Ali without getting a huge crowd.
"With Manny it's the same thing, but they seem to be even more frenetic than they were with Ali."
Besides boasting charisma and a hyper-aggressive, go-for-broke fighting style, Pacquiao commands so much loyalty because he worked his way up from extreme poverty.
A native of General Santos City, Pacquiao lived in a shack in a rural , mountainous area as a youngster, according to Arum . By age 12 he was selling cigarettes on the streets of Manila to survive.
"He came up the poorest of the poor," Arum said. "He's clearly a man of the people. They identify with him. No matter what their economic group is, the highest or the lowest, they love Manny."
During Pacquiao's fight against Larios last year in Manila, activity in the city - including traffic and crime - came to a standstill. "The criminals and their would-be victims were glued to their television sets," a Philippine newspaper reported.
The Pacquiao-Barrera fight will be shown live Sunday morning in the Philippines. Even church services in the predominantly Roman Catholic country are expected to be delayed during the bout.
"Everyone will be watching the fight," Arum said.
Relaxed and smiling, Pacquiao breezed through a series of light drills this week at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
In the background, a banner hung from the rafters commemorating Barrera's 2000 fight against Morales, the opener of a sensational trilogy that helped define Barrera's career.
Pacquiao looked fit and carefree, wholly untroubled by any distractions, or by gremlins that could jump out of a tree and bite, or by the prospect of fighting for an entire island nation half a world away.
"Of course," he said, "in every fight, the fight is not just for me, not just for my family. It's also for my country and all the people in my country. It's going to be the same thing this time."
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