TEAM GABI LEAVES FOR FIGHT VENUE TODAY
By Salven L. Lagumbay
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 02 Mar 2006
Everything is green and go as Filipino Diosdado "Prince" Gabi, who will attempt to become a dual world champion on Saturday, and his team depart at noontime today for the Chumash Casino Resort in Sta. Ynez, California in time for his 12-round war with IBF flyweight king Vic Darchinyan.
The brash-talking Darchinyan, who bragged that he will let Gabi choose the round when he would knock out the latter, will defend his IBF and IBO titles against the soft-spoken southpaw Filipino, who hails from Davao City, Philippines.
The Chumash Casino Resort, which is a two-hour drive from the Wild Card Boxing Club, is located in Santa Barbara County in California, between Los Angeles and San Francisco, in the heart of the beautiful Sta Ynez Valley wine country.
Gabi, his manager Michael Koncz, and retired police officer Robert Peters who is also Manny Pacquiao's close-in security, will take a three-hour drive today from Koncz's residence in Orange County to the Chumash Casino Resort.
Trainer Freddie Roach, cutman Joe Chavez and Roach's assistant trainer Eric Brown will leave Wild Card tomorrow and will arrive prior to the official weigh-in which is set at 5PM inside the hotel.
Also scheduled to take the trip tomorrow is Jeudy Martinez, Gabi's personal fitness instructor at LA Fitness where the Filipino southpaw has been working out the past three months. Jeudy will be accompanied by his beautiful wife in the trip.
Yesterday, Gabi weighed in at 113.5 lbs on the electornic scale provided by Koncz, just perfect to meet the 112-lb limit on Friday's weigh-in.
Last Friday (Saturday in RP), Gabi sparred for the last time, doing five rounds against a regular sparmate at Wild Card, then skipped rope for 10 minutes, hit the speed ball for another 10 minutes and shadow boxed for 5 rounds. He did the same routine the following day, except that instead of sparring he did four rounds on the mitts with Eric Brown. Sunday was a day off.
Last Monday (Tuesday in RP), after jogging 4 miles, Gabi and his manager went to the Wild Card where Freddie Roach had Gabi do a light workout consisting of 10 minutes on the speed ball, jump rope 10 minutes and shadow boxing for 4 rounds.
Yesterday, Gabi and Koncz stayed home and took part in the telephone press conference at 11 am then at 6:30 PM Gabi and Koncz went to the LA Fitness Gym where the fighter ran on the treadmill for 25 minutes to control his weight.
END
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