MANILA: Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao is confident he can beat American arch-rival Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas on Saturday with the power of God, after abandoning a life he said was packed with sin condemning him to hell.
Pacquiao is in top form both in mind and spirit after he traded his boozing, gambling and womanising ways for a devout life of prayer, his spiritual adviser, Jeric Soriano, told AFP in a recent Manila interview.
"Manny is a God-fearing man. Inside his heart of hearts he really loved God. Except the world got to him," Soriano said of Pacquiao's party-boy lifestyle before he became born-again in 2012.
Pacquiao now dreams of becoming a pastor and is building a 6,000-square metre (1.5-acre) "worship house" in his southern Philippine hometown of General Santos as a monument to his spiritual rebirth, Soriano said.
With Soriano's help, Pacquiao a few years ago converted to the born-again faith, which shuns many Catholic traditions such as religious images but emphasises strict adherence to the bible.
He is now building a church, to be called: "The Word for Everyone" and which can accommodate up 5,000 people, in his southern hometown of General Santos, pastor Boy Buan, who is overseeing the construction, told AFP.
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