PACQUIAO ON FIRE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 23 Sep 2011
Pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao is on fire if his training regimen in the cool climes of Baguio City is any indication so far.
The ?Fighter of the Decade? who began training for his highly-anticipated third fight in an epic though somewhat controversial trilogy with Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on November 12 has even taken trainer Freddie Roach and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza by surprise.
What surprised Roach was Pacquiao?s insistence on sparring four rounds with former WBC featherweight and WBA super featherweight champion Jorge Linares of Venezuela (31-1, 20 KO?s) who is himself preparing to battle Antonio Demarco for the vacant WBC lightweight title on October 15.
Although he is nowhere near top condition Pacquiao was impressive in his session with Linares who later predicted in an interview with TV 5 that Pacquiao would take out Marquez ?Maybe in four or five rounds.?
Childhood friend and Filipino trainer ?Buboy? Fernandez told us that Roach ?knows when he sees Manny work out, whether he?s been training or not. We will surprise him because we?ll show him how good Pacquiao is.? Obviously they did surprise Roach.
Fernandez was pleased at what he heard from Linares and advanced the notion that Pacquiao ?is on fire? adding that ?never in our previous camps has he improved so fast.?
Pacquiao kicked off the morning when he jogged with well-known marathon runner Brian Livingstone of Los Angeles and covered a surprisingly long distance of almost seven kilometers.
He expects to be ready to take on the challenging uphill runs in a couple of days.
Fernandez who did the punch-mitts with Pacquiao while working out last week at Planet Jupiter in Makati said he could ?already feel Manny?s power? and complained good-naturedly ?my hands ached whenever he threw those shots.?
During his initial week of training in Makati, Pacquiao worked on strategy and how to counter Marquez? known weapons which are a right straight and left uppercut.
Fernandez revealed that Pacquiao and he discussed their strategy ?On how to handle Marquez looking at the times he is open and Manny can counter. Manny knows right away what to do. Even though we know his strengths are the left uppercut and the right straight we cannot take him lightly. You give him a little confidence its dangerous. He wants the world to know that he really won their first two fights.?
He added, ?this fight is personal. Marquez will do all he can to beat us while we beat him he knows how to fight Pacquiao and he knows how to adjust.?
Fernandez said Pacquiao?s advantage is that they will be fighting at the catch-weight of 144 pounds and Manny?s speed ?is still there but Marquez? movement will be different at 144 compared to when he fought Manny at 126 and 130 pounds. If he fights the way he fought Floyd Mayweather Jr then he?ll be dropped. Its much easier to hit him now.?
However, the bosom buddy of Pacquiao warned ?we cannot take him lightly. He is Marquez and he is different no matter how many weight divisions we have conquered he is also a world champion.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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