GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The mother of world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao asked that he "pray doubly hard" as his bout with Oscar de la Hoya draws near.

Dionisia Pacquiao admitted that she was increasingly becoming anxious with two more days left before the actual fight between her son and De la Hoya.

"Parang bumalik yung nerbiyos ko. Kinakabahan ako masyado [My nervousness has returned. I am very nervous]," she said.

Pacquiao?s mother said what made her more anxious this time was the fact that De la Hoya was larger and taller than her son.

She admitted that she never felt like this before and that like in his previous fights, she tried to find comfort in prayer.

She also wanted her son to pray hard for victory.

"Magdasal ka ng maige. Kung matatag ka noon doblehin mo ang tatag at dasal mo ngayon para sa kaligtasan at panalo mo [Pray hard. If you were strong before, double that strength and prayer for you safety and victory]," she said.

She said because she could not bear the sight of her son slugging it out in the ring, she would rather not watch it live on television.

"Yung replay na lang ang panoorin ko kasi hindi kaya ng puso ko [I will just watch the replay because my hard cannot take it]," she said.

Asked about her prediction on the outcome of the fight, Pacquiao?sm mother said she was confident that her son's training and faith in God would help him defeat De la Hoya.

"Nothing is impossible with God," she said.

While Pacquiao?s mother would rather watch the replays, the world boxing champion?s political opponent in the 2007 congressional elections for South Cotabato, Darlene Custodio, would be watching the fight via satellite broadcast here, along with Mayor Pedro Acharon.

Acharon said the city government and the family of Representative Custodio have paid Solar Sports P350,000 so that the Pacquiao-De la Hoya fight could be seen via a big screen put up at the Lagao gymnasium here.

"We made this to allow our people in the city to watch the Pacquiao-De la Hoya bout live via a giant screen," Acharon said.

He said the admission at the gym would be free although they adopted the ticketing system for crowd control.

The tickets will be given to village officials, who will take charge of its distribution in their respective areas.

In Cotabato City, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said it was expecting a lull in the clashes in Maguindanao when Pacquiao faces De la Hoya on Sunday.

"Definitely, our forces on the ground, who have access to television and radio, would temporarily silence their guns," Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military operations chief, said.

He said the MILF was also expecting that soldiers would temporarily stop their advances, as they did in Pacquiao's previous fights.

"If Pacquiao fights everyday, then everyday there will be peace in Mindanao," Kabalu said.

Colonel Julieto Ando, 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said soldiers would be given time to watch the fight or hear about its development on radio.

But Ando said this would not mean that they could already relax.

"They are still on red alert," he said.