GRAPEVINE, Texas—It wasn’t simply natural hard-work ethic, after all.

When Ghanaian challenger Joshua Clottey was seen doing an early-morning jog at the lobby of the Gaylord Texan Hotel on Monday, he was not just trying to stay in tip-top shape.

He was trying to lose extra poundage.

The suspicion that Clottey, a big welterweight, was still overweight two days before the fight was confirmed when the Ghanaian fighter, accompanied by four others, was spotted by Team Pacquiao member Roger Fernandez jogging at the convention hall while wearing thermal suit for 45 minutes and then skipping rope.

“Masama nga ang tingin nila sa akin, pero hindi ako umalis (They threw dagger looks at me, but I didn’t leave),” said Roger, younger brother of Buboy, who is Pacquiao’s bosom buddy and trainer.

“I’m sure Clottey’s still overweight,” added Roger. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t do that (wear thermal suit).

“He looks haggard and his stomach appears to be deep.”

In the final press conference Wednesday, Clottey’s chief trainer Lenny DeJesus claimed that Clottey, who has fought over the welterweight limit of 147 pounds 11 times in his career, twice at 154, had made the weight in his bid for Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization welterweight crown.

As Clottey scrambled to shed pounds, Pacquiao had no such problem as he weighed 146 even after a big lunch of beef stew and pinakbet (an Ilocano vegetable dish) Wednesday.

Roger said the seven-time champion in as many divisions would still eat a full meal hours before weigh-in on Friday afternoon.

Making weight at 147 has not been an issue for Pacquiao and conditioning expert Alex Ariza has been giving him protein shakes to maintain his ideal poundage.