Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios make weight for Sunday bout

Manny Pacquiao weighed in at 145 pounds (65kg) while Brandon Rios clocked in at 146.5 pounds on Saturday morning.

Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios will square off at roughly 7 AM in the UAE on Sunday morning for the WBO welterweight title. Tyrone Siu / Reuters

MACAU // Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios have made weight for their WBO welterweight fight in Macau on Sunday.

Weighing in at the unusual time of 7.30 AM Saturday to accommodate US TV, Pacquiao was at 145 pounds (65kg) while Rios was 146.5.

“My goal was 145 and I feel strong, so there is nothing to worry about,” Pacquiao said.

“I have been doing this since I was 23 years old, I’m hungry.”

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said his fighter was “a pound more than I thought he would be” but on track to enter the ring at 149.

Rios said his making of the weight proved Roach wrong.

“This message goes out to Freddie Roach who said I’m a bum, I’m a fat loser and I can never make weight – guess what, I made weight, I feel great,” Rios said.

“When you doubt me you make me stronger. (They) are worried, I’m not worried, I feel confident.”

Roach laughed off the comment, saying Rios struggled to make it even though he had now moved up two weight divisions in three fights.

“If he can’t make 147 he’s a joke,” Roach said. “He almost couldn’t make 135 or 140 and even at 147 he struggled every day, he had plastics on. This is a world title fight, you make weight.”

The undercard begins at 8 AM local time (4 AM UAE Saturday), with the main event at The Venetian casino expected to begin around three hours later.