FOURTH SPARRING PARTNER NEEDED FOR PACQUIAO
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 19 Oct 2013
Photos by Wendell Rupert Alinea.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY ? Having established momentum going into the most crucial phase of preparations, Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao now needs at least one more sparring partner that resembles Brandon Rios? fighting style.
The Macau battle could be his make-or-break fight since suffering twin defeats at the hands of Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez in the saddest moment of his 18-year fighting career in 2012.
?The momentum is already there,? chief trainer Freddie Roach assessed yesterday in reference to the gains Pacquiao has been getting from the three dancing partners, including Irish Liam Vaughan, Ghanaian Fredrick Lawson and local boy Dan Nazareno, who have so far been providing the eight-division world champion his initial needs in terms of regaining the feel of what it is atop the ring.
Pacquiao, for his part, said it?s Roach who is charting his fine-tuning program and ?it?s up to him to decide on what more are needed. Ako ang boxer, si Freddie ang trainer, that?s how the team works.?
Acquiring another sparring mate, or perhaps two, is one of the innovations to be effected in the camp after Roach himself took in conditioning coach Gavin MacMillan, who will be arriving Tuesday.
By the look of things, the trio of sparring team might not represent Rios? style of fighting, but Manny, certainly, has benefited, to a certain extent, a little of everything awaiting him for his 12-round showdown with Rios for the World Boxing Organization international welterweight title November 24 in Macau.
Nazareno, who is the revelation at the Pacman Wild Card Gym here, and Vaughan both have been lending their punching power in the sparring sessions, while Lawson the quickness and fluidity. Going into the last five weeks of preparations, the American Hall of Fame trainer said the need is for a guy possessing both power, speed and more, to which assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri and Roger Fernandez agreed.
?Ayos na naman yung tatlo, iba-iba ang estilo nila na nasa kay Rios din. Pero kailangan din isang taong nasa kanya lahat ng katangian,? the thrree chorused.
Former two division champion Gerry Penalosa has been burning the lines since yesterday seeking what kind of a fighter Roach ordered him to acquire.
?Yeah, I have already found somebody from Thailand coach Freddie wants,? Penalosa, who along with boxing brothers Carl Jr., Dodie Boy, another two-division titlist, and Jonathan, have been assisting in Pacman?s build up program, for his part told this writer.
?I?m just waiting for negotiations to finalize before I announce who my choice is,? Penalosa said. ?Mas maganda nga kasi ang Asian, kasi gutom at siyempre pasok nang pasok tulad ni Rios.? Roach bared that he is also eyeing an up-and-coming American welterweight from Colorado to join the team.
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