<p>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.<br /><br />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.</p>.<p>“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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>In 2012, Pacquiao acknowledged he had succumbed to many of the temptations on offer to ultra-wealthy sportsmen, after the Philippine media for many years dined out on rumours of infidelity, drinking and gambling.</p>.<p>"I do realise I was a weak person before. If I had died the other year, I believe my soul would have ended in hell," Pacquiao told reporters then. "I had faith, but I was doing things which were against the will of God."</p>.<p>In an interview with AFP last month before heading to the United States to train for this weekend’s Mayweather megafight — predicted to pull in around $400 million as the two best boxers of a generation finally go head-to-head after years of protracted on-off negotiations — Pacquiao again reflected on his earlier life.<br /><br />"All the things I loved and wanted were the same things that were most detestable before the eyes of God. I was a sinner," Pacquiao said. </p>.<p>Soriano said Pacquiao confided to him that he felt he was wasting his millions of dollars in boxing earnings on vices.</p>.<p>"Why can't I channel that instead to a church that will speak the word of God?" he recalled Pacquiao saying.</p>.<p>Like the prophets in the Old Testament, Pacquiao claimed God appeared to him in a dream, according to Soriano, a television commercial director who had worked with the boxer in the past. "He was in a forest, a strong light hit him and pierced his body and he heard a voice asking him: Where are you? Why have you left me?" Soriano said.<br /><br />Pacquiao was crying in his dream and he woke up with his pillow soaked in tears, and he was soon telling anyone who would listen the almighty joy of being a believer, he said.<br />Watercooler chats about fast cars with his staff then turned into bible studies as Pacquiao tried to infect them with his new-found faith, according to Soriano.<br /><br /></p>
<p>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.<br /><br />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.</p>.<p>“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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>In 2012, Pacquiao acknowledged he had succumbed to many of the temptations on offer to ultra-wealthy sportsmen, after the Philippine media for many years dined out on rumours of infidelity, drinking and gambling.</p>.<p>"I do realise I was a weak person before. If I had died the other year, I believe my soul would have ended in hell," Pacquiao told reporters then. "I had faith, but I was doing things which were against the will of God."</p>.<p>In an interview with AFP last month before heading to the United States to train for this weekend’s Mayweather megafight — predicted to pull in around $400 million as the two best boxers of a generation finally go head-to-head after years of protracted on-off negotiations — Pacquiao again reflected on his earlier life.<br /><br />"All the things I loved and wanted were the same things that were most detestable before the eyes of God. I was a sinner," Pacquiao said. </p>.<p>Soriano said Pacquiao confided to him that he felt he was wasting his millions of dollars in boxing earnings on vices.</p>.<p>"Why can't I channel that instead to a church that will speak the word of God?" he recalled Pacquiao saying.</p>.<p>Like the prophets in the Old Testament, Pacquiao claimed God appeared to him in a dream, according to Soriano, a television commercial director who had worked with the boxer in the past. "He was in a forest, a strong light hit him and pierced his body and he heard a voice asking him: Where are you? Why have you left me?" Soriano said.<br /><br />Pacquiao was crying in his dream and he woke up with his pillow soaked in tears, and he was soon telling anyone who would listen the almighty joy of being a believer, he said.<br />Watercooler chats about fast cars with his staff then turned into bible studies as Pacquiao tried to infect them with his new-found faith, according to Soriano.<br /><br /></p>