PACQUIAO HAS SPOKEN, NOW FANS AND HANGERS ON MUST GIVE HIM SPACE
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 05 Sep 2009
“He has to go (to Baguio)," Pacquiao stated referring to Freddie Roach.
The Pacman apparently has finally decided where he wants to train for the first four to six weeks leading to his match up with the Puerto Rican bomber, Miguel Cotto.
Poor Freddie Roach did not have a choice. His reply when asked about the choice of Pacman was :- “we will just do the best we can.”
Way to go Coach! That is the spirit of a real team player.
Now the die is cast and the place has been decided. Baguio, it will be!
Realistically, Baguio is not a bad choice at all. Yes, it may not have the ambiance of the Wildcard Gym, the smoggy skies of greater Los Angeles nor the Nat’s Thai Restaurant next door to the gym.
But as far as a training place is concerned, it must be good. Otherwise, it would not have been selected as the spot to train Philippine national amatueur boxers in the past.
Pacman’s choice of Baguio, in lieu of the hills of Toluca, Mexico or those in Vancouver, Canada is really not that bad.
Unless……
The fans will go crazy and take the opportunity of messing up the training routine much like they did in Cebu when Pacquiao trained there
Or worse…
The who-is-who amongst the hangers-on will also camp out at Baguio and hang out at the training camp to see and be seen.
The choice of Pacquiao essentially created a new challenge not only to Roach who must now bring three sparring partners to Baguio and perhaps pick a few more amongst those available in the country.
But the biggest challenge is now on the so-called “security people”.
These people must now earn their worth.
They must set the rules and they must impose them without exceptions.
The question that looms large however is:- Will they or rather, can they?
Do they have the guts to restrict access to the training camp particularly when the so-called “big names” pop in?
Can they control the politicians and the show-biz people who will milk the presence of Pacquiao to advance their own cause?
I sure hope so. But honestly, I doubt it!
As they saying goes in the vernacular:- “takot lang nila”.
In this fight with Cotto, Pacquiao will be facing his biggest challenge ever. Cotto is no Hatton or a de la Hoya. He is big and strong and far better than the two aforementioned. Therefore, Pacquiao needs space to be alone with Roach and train the way he should..
Hopefully, the fans and hangers-on will consider that.
Or better still, respect that.
And give Pacquiao the time and space to train.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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