Pacquiao shifts roadwork to UCLA
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 25 Mar 2015
LOS ANGELES ? It was another hard day?s work Tuesday for Filipino World Boxing Organization welterweight belt-owner Manny Pacquiao, who, nevertheless, got rewarded by chief trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Justin Fortune.
Roach and Fortune have cancelled for good the mountain-climbing Griffitth Hills run in Pacquiao?s road regimen he had been doing thrice a week since setting foot here last Feb. 28.
Pacquiao, who will be going for the World Boxing Council/World Boxing Association pieces of the 147-pound division owned by the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2, will be running in the 400-meter University of California-Los Angeles track oval, which he tried to savor last Monday and was found to be more conducive to his conditioning routine.
?He doesn?t need it (mountain-climbing) anymore,? the two boxing gurus chorused Tuesday in an interview after overseeing their prize pupil sparred for eight rounds at the Wild Card Boxing Gym camp.
Regular dance partner Kenneth Sims and Gibson Keandri sparred with Pacquiao for four rounds each, ending the day that saw Pacquiao go straight to his room in his mansion house to dine and rest.
The stamina, according to Fortune has already been achieved and what should be strengthened are his legs.
?Manny?s already in the leg-strengthening stage of conditioning so that he no longer need to punish himself under the rigor of running uphill,? Fortune told a couple of Manila-based media men covering the Filipino ring icon?s build up program.
?UCLA has the equipment, facilities, gadgets and other components not available elsewhere,? Fortune said. ?UCLA, definitely compensates what Griffith cannot.?
?Besides, UCLA provides the privacy he now needs,? Roach butted in. ?There are too many distractions out there in Griffith Park as well as in the Pam Pacific Park and we have to minimize those disturbances.?
?Much as we would like to accommodate the fans, especially the Filipinos who would cancel their day-offs, work on a half-day basis just to watch him train, have him sign autographs, t-shirts, gloves and have their pictures taken, we can no longer allow that at this stage of preparation,? Roach said, sounding apologetic.
?Manny?s preparing for a fight of his life and I believe we would all be very happy I he comes to the fight well-prepared to win. We hope everybody will understand.?
?We are retaining though the Pan Pacific straight circuit to provide him with the needs oval couldn?t give,? Roach reasoned out, adding the fighting Congressman from Sarangani Province will be spending half of the road work in the area every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The UCLA track and field stadium will be used every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Incidentally, it was Pacquiao himself who decided to start his roadwork at the rolling Griffith Hills right on the very first day the team pitched camp in L.A.
?We just cannot do everything in one session. Doing things little by little is the right formula,? Fortune cautioned.
Both Roach and Fortune expect the eight-division champion to be in perfect fighting condition two weeks before the May 2 confrontation with Mayweather set at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
?By that time, we will be toning down whatever we?ve doing for the past month or so and concentrate on preparing our game plan and strategies or the actual fight,? Fortune said.
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