JET-LAGGED PACQUIAO SPARS FOR EIGHT HARD ROUNDS
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 17 Mar 2016
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Last Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) marked the 595th year of the discovery of the Philippines by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan.
It was also the day the air-conditioned Araneta Coliseum, then the biggest in Asia, was inaugurated with Filipino simon-pure Gabriel "Flash" Elorde winning the world junior lightweight championship at the expense of Rhode Islands' Harold Gomes via a seventh round knockout victory.
For Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao, it was a day when he practically "killed" himself in training for his coming fight with American Timothy Bradley whom he will meet for the third time on April 9 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vega, Nevada.
Still evidently suffering from jet lag four days after arriving here from Manila Saturday, the 37-year-old former pound-for-pound king of the ring, nevertheless, sparred for eight rounds against Canadian-based Congolese Ghislain Maduma and Lydell Rhodes at four rounds each.
Looking already spent after over 30 minutes of exchanging no-mean punches with his junior welterweight mates, Pacquiao, who is out to recover from his sixth defeat in his 21-year pro-career, spent yet another energy-sapping rounds with heavy bags, double end ball, speed ball before ending the grueling day skipping rope and mat exercises.
Earlier in the day, he was running from his residence at Plymouth Blvd. to Pan Pacific Park where he made several rounds on the way to more stamina-building routines.
"Manny killed himself in training," Filipino trainer Marvin Somodio, an assistant of Freddie Roach in his Wild Card Boxing Gym, observed after the day's nearly three-hour session.
"Halatang may jet lag pa, pero sige pa rin ang ensayo gaya nang mga nakaraan niyang laban. Parang walang kapaguran," Somodio said. "Ganyan naman talaga si Manny kung mag-ensayo, parang mauubusan ng oras."
"Manny's really determined to win this coming fight. Determined to win convincingly, that is," Somodio remarked. "Reason maybe why before the sparring, coach Freddie instructed both Maduma and Rhodes to make him work. They did and Manny, responded by giving it all."
"That's nothing naman to Manny. Tutulugan lang niya 'yan. Makita mo bukas malakas pa 'yan sa kabayo pag-resume ng ensayo," he said. "Mabilis maka-recover si Manny. Kahit anong pagod ngayong araw, kinabukasan malakas na naman."
Tired to his bone, Pacquiao retired early that evening that by 8 o'clock, he was already in his room dispensing with his usual entertaining guests which continued trekking their way to his Plymouth mansion come hell and high water.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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