After all training ceased a week before his fourth fight against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas USA, Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao is devoting his time to prayer.

“He keeps praying for the fight to become safe for both boxers. Manny is hoping nobody will get hurt seriously in this fight. We are all hoping for the best,” Pacquiao’s longtime lawyer Franklyn Gacal told The Manila Times in a telephone interview.

The Pacquiao camp folded up and left California for Las Vegas on Monday (Tuesday afternoon in Manila).

Pacquiao’s deep spirituality though stands in stark contrast with his ferocity in the ring, “It is the Pacquiao that we really want to see. A faster and stronger Pacquiao who wants to close his rivalry with Marquez with a convincing win. I’m pretty sure he’s 100 percent ready,” Gacal describes Pacquaio’s performance during training.

But Pacquiao (54-4-2 win-loss-draw card with 38 knockouts) is not underestimating Marquez (54-6-2 win-loss-draw with 39 KOs) and is expecting the Mexican to go for broke and to bank on clever counterpunching in their fourth encounter, “He expects a tough fight, so I’m expecting Manny to prevent those counterpunches,” said Gacal.