PACQUIAO BREATHLESS IN SPARRING SESSION
By Robbie Pangilinan
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 29 Apr 2012
After a five-month rest following his not-so-impressive win against Juan Manuel Marquez last November, pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao was breathless at the end of his four-round sparring session with Russian junior welterweight prospect Ruslan Provodnikov, whose last fight and victory was in January.
With 200 fans watching, including wife Jinkee and her entourage, and the boxer?s fellow Congressman Bernardo Vergara, the sparring session started two days ahead of schedule upon the request of the Pacman himself.
?Manny?s right requesting to start the sparring two days earlier. Now we know what he still lacks and how we can solve them,? said chief trainer Freddie Roach.
The national boxing icon agreed saying, ?It was good that we were able to start polishing early. If we started on Saturday (the original schedule), we might rush in the end,? said Manny.
There was a bruise under the right eye of the 28-year-old Provodnikov after tasting strong left and right hooks in the third and fourth rounds.
The World Boxing Organization welterweight champion also received solid right counters. He was all praises for his Russian mate, who he said follows after the style of world junior-welterweight kingpin Timothy Bradley, who he faces on June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Only the protective devices on the boxers? heads and under the belt prevented further injury.
Big and broad-shouldered Provodnikov is actually lighter than the Pambansang Kamao at 147 pounds. Assistant trainers Nonoy Neri and Buboy Fernandez said the eight-division champion weighs 148 or 149.
Manny finished with three rounds in heavy bag, two rounds each in double end ball, two rounds in speed bag and three rounds skipping rope. Sparring resumes tomorrow with another four rounds before increasing the frequency on Monday during the last week of high-altitude training here.
Team Pacquiao will return to Manila on Thursday to prepare for another training at the Manny Pacquiao Gym in Sampaloc. The team flies out of Manila Saturday night heading to Los Angeles in California where the fine-tuning program resumes at the Wild Card Gym. #
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