PACQUIAO ENTERS 5TH WEEK OF TRAINING (WITH PHOTOS)
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 02 Apr 2009
Los Angeles, CA.:- As promised, here is my Wednesday report from the Pacquiao training camp at the Wildcard Gym.
I purposely got to the gym a whole lot earlier just so I can catch up with the training of Gerry Penalosa who comes to the Wildcard Gym way ahead of the Pacman.
Gerry came in at exactly 11:30am and immediately got on with the business of getting ready for his April 25th date with Juan Manuel Lopez in Puerto Rico.
With 24 days still to go before that fateful day, Gerry is already looking very sharp. In fact, one of the pundits at the gym stated that he looks so ready that he can fight even if his match with Lopez is done tomorrow.
Gerry sparred four rounds with a Filipino-American boxer they called Diamond.
He is a 130 pounder and had been boxing for six years and taller than Penalosa.
The young man gave a good account of himself but of course he was no match for the defensive strategist in Penalosa. He managed to sneak in a few good right hooks but he ate a lot of leather in return.
Then the Pacman came in way pass two o?clock. Apparently, he run up the hills of Griffith Park earlier in the morning and didn?t have time to get ready in time. Besides, he apparently wanted to finish some business before he came to the gym.
But as soon as he got to the gym, which incidentally was cleared out of people not connected to the Team and to HBO by security chief Rob Peters, he proceeded to the dressing room to changed.
His initial tasks were stretching exercises with Alex Ariza to get him warmed up.
Following that procedure which lasted about 20 minutes, he donned his sparring gloves assisted by Buboy Fernandez and Nonoy Neri and climbed up the ring to do the punch mitts with Freddie Roach.
What was supposed to be a 10 round deal turned out to be 12 at first, then Pacquiao asked for more so they ended up doing 16 rounds.
All during the procedure, they were strategizing and rehearsing their battle plans in anticipation of what Ricky Hatton and Mayweather will come up on May 2nd.
Then the Pacman went on to do the single and the double speed bags followed by shadow boxing and the rest of the usual routine.
The crew from HBO?s 24/7 filmed the whole training regimen of Pacquiao.
After Pacman was done, Dennis Laurente of the Elorde Gym in Paranaque came up to do his thing. He was ably assisted by Buboy Fernandez with the punch mitts.
Bernabe Concepcion came along too. Although his fight with Steven Luevano has been called off, Concepcion appears upbeat and continued to do his part. ?I am hoping they will find another fighter,? he said to this writer. ?The promoter tells me that we should know in a week or two,? he added.
Concepcion worked with Freddie Roach and it was amazing to see Roach do some more punch mitts with him almost right after the grueling 16 rounds with Pacquiao. Truly, the man is a work-horse and a marvelous trainer.
Also spotted on the ring sweating it out were Bobby Pacquiao and Rodel Mayol.
Both of them indicated that they have no immediate schedules but they are keeping in shape just in case something comes along.
A couple of large boxes of shoes and training outfits, jackets and t-shirts were delivered to the gym. A quick perusal of the stuff revealed that the brand name was different from the usual ones we see with Team Pacquiao. But just the same, they were gifts to the Team and they were graciously accepted.
Also spotted at the Wildcard Gym today was the basketball varsity team from the University of the East headed by Coach Lawrence Chongson. They are in town to do a basketball camp in the San Fernando Valley area and then will compete against other teams in Las Vegas in about two weeks.
Top photo: Pacquiao (R) and Roach doing the mitts routine at the Wildcard Gym Wednesday.
Gerry Penalosa tags his sparring partner with a right during today's sparring session in preparation for his fight on Apr. 25 against WBO superbantam champ Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico.
Dennis Laurente (R) does the mitts with Buboy Fernandez.
Mayol doing the heavy bag.
Bobby Pacquiao with trainer.
The University of the East basketball team pose for a photo after visiting the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles.
Photos by Dr. Ed de la Vega.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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