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GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – It was 3 pm at the Wild Card Gym on Friday afternoon, two hours past the usual start of Manny Pacquiao’s gym sessions.
There was no sign of the 8-division champion. Freddie Roach, his long-time trainer, patiently passed the time by assisting a few upstarts who were hoping to have some of the Pacman’s greatness rub off on them by moving around the same ring he uses.
“I know Manny’s resting so if he’s late, he’s late. He must need rest and he’s resting,” said Roach, a six-time Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) Trainer of the Year.
Finally, at nearly 3:30 pm, Pacquiao’s black Hummer pulls up in front of the gym. Pacquiao, accompanied by Sarangani governor Steve Solon, changed into his standard training outfit – a yellow Nike shirt that reads “The Champ Knows” – before changing back into a white polo shirt and leaving. “Freddie told me to take the day off,” said Pacquiao.
Roach, while being tasked with getting Pacquiao in the best possible shape for fights, has at times had to hold Pacquiao back from overtraining. As he prepares for his April 12 rematch with WBO welterweight titleholder Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs), Pacquiao has looked in top form, with Roach commenting the day before that Pacquiao was already at 80% peak condition with 5 weeks to go before the fight.
Although known to miss early morning running sessions here and there in the past, Pacquiao has been diligent in his roadwork leading up to his rematch with Bradley. Sessions with LA-based conditioning coach Cecilio Flores have gotten the Sarangani congressman into better shape than he has been at this point in a camp in recent years.
“I think being at home and being around his family, it’s a much happier situation for him,” said Roach. “He’s having fun, he’s smiling, he’s still playing basketball, but 4 weeks before the fight he’ll stop that. The thing is, that’s not a problem.
“He’s having a good time training, he beat the shit out of me the last couple of days (on punch mitts), he’s starting to enjoy hitting me more. He only hurt me once yesterday. The chin shot, one he hit me when I threw a right hand at him and he caught me with a right hook, it was a good shot. I didn’t buckle, but I felt it.
“If I take a couple of shots to get him ready for the fight, it’s well, well worth it. I’m not making any comebacks, though.”
Pacquiao looked exceptional in his workout Thursday, March 6, sparring 7 rounds with Oklahoma native Lydell Rhodes before finishing up with 10 rounds on the mitts.
Roach is so content with the way things are going that he’s thinking about pushing their Saturday afternoon flight to Los Angeles to finish up camp a week or two.
“I talked to Manny and he might want to stay for one more week,” said Roach, who has arranged for former champs Steve Forbes and Kendall Holt, as well as junior welterweight prospect Julian Rodriguez, to spar Pacquiao at his Hollywood-based gym.
“If he wants to stay two weeks I wouldn’t mind. All we’d have to do is bring the sparring partners here,” Roach said. “It’d just take one day. He’s so comfortable and doing so well, I’m really happy with him. I would consider it.”
For Pacquiao’s last fight against Brandon Rios in Macau this past November, Pacquiao trained exclusively in his hometown, balancing his every day normal life with fight preparations. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum had said he preferred Pacquiao staying at home, as it meant living on a schedule closer to what is most comfortable for him.
In Los Angeles, Pacquiao will be joined by strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, whom Pacquiao worked with up until his 2007 fight with Jorge Solis. Fortune will have to split time with Flores, who had previously worked with trainer Robert Garcia.
“We’ve got to keep everything cool and positive,” said Flores. “At the end of the day it’s not about me and Justin, it’s about Pacquiao so we’ve got to work together and make him a champion again.” – Rappler.com
Ryan Songalia is the sports editor of Rappler, a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and a contributor to The Ring magazine. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com. An archive of his work can be found at ryansongalia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia.
More stories on Pacquiao’s training camp for the Bradley rematch
Introducing Pacquiao conditioning coach Cecilio Flores
Pacquiao, Roach happy with GenSan training, consider postponing LA
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WATCH: Rhodes speaks after sparring with Pacquiao
Aggressive Pacquiao impresses birthday boy Roach in sparring
Pacquiao spar mate Rhodes says sparring Manny has been ‘Hell’
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