PACQUIAO ENTERS FINAL LEG OF TRAINING IN LOS ANGELES
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 24 Oct 2016
With no less than two months of preparation behind him, Filipino fighter cum public servant Manny Pacquiao enters the final leg of his build up Monday (Tuesday in Manila) in Los Angeles towards challenging Mexican-American Jessie Vargas for the latter?s World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
Pacquiao, who will be facing Vargas in his comeback fight six months after announcing a self-imposed retirement, and his team, flew into the world?s entertainment capital last Saturday following the opening stop of fine-tuning that started August 23.
If he will have his way, Pacquiao will be scaling the scenic Griffith Park, his favorite running venue, in the early morning session then do the mitts with chief trainer Freddie Roach later in the day.
Sparring resumes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday although on a lighter load than the 10-round skirmish he ended up his Manila camp Saturday afternoon, hours before boarding a Philippine Airlines flight that brought him and his team to the United States.
Pacquiao and the training team, also made up of assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri and Roger ?Haplas? Fernandez, along with Roach, expressed satisfaction on the outcome of the Manila leg of preparations despite a few glitches that accompanied the program.
Along the way, there was Pacquiao?s duty as an elected Philippine senator that somehow intervened in his preparations. Then the mental and physical fatigue that caused the ?Fighter of the Decade? to catch cold that led to the cancellation of several training sessions.
All of his men, in fact, and this includes principal sparring mate Jose Ramirez, expressed belief that the camp attained its intended purpose when they left Manila.
?We?re ready to fight,? pronounced Roach as early as two days before departure in a statement echoed by Buboy and company, including strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, who left Manila five days ahead, believing that, indeed, the soon-to-be 38 year old eight-division champ had already reached his peak that early.
Pacquiao thought so, too, when he told reporters upon arrival in L.A. he?s ready to trade punches with ?anybody anytime.?
And why not?
After logging some 78 rounds in sparring, four rounds starting September 22 against local junior-welterweight contender Leonardo Doronio, who was joined by Ramirez a week later upon his and Roach?s arrival in Manila, who wouldn?t believe Pacquiao is not ready to reclaim the 147-pound crown he held twice before?
Add the more than 100 rounds of hitting the mitts with Buboy and Roach and, indeed, the four-division lineal champion is ready with still two weeks into his scheduled encounter with Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center inside the UNLV campus.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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