Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Manny Pacquiao's Sparring Partners to Showcase Skills

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse.com

If you want to see what Manny Pacquiao's been up against during his sparring sessions, check out rising 154-pounders Rashad Holloway and Shawn Porter in their upcoming bouts.

Holloway will take an 11-1-1 record that includes five knockouts into Wednesday night's junior middleweight clash with Francisco Figueroa (20-3, 13 KOs), and Porter a 10-0 mark with eight knockouts into his Nov. 21, junior middleweight matchup with Jerome Ellis (12-1-2, 10 KOs).

Trainer Freddie Roach said Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) has gotten steady work from the duo during his preparation for a Nov. 14 bout against WBO welterweight titlist, Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs), at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"We have some good sparring right now -- Rashad Holloway, Shawn Porter and Ray Beltran," said Roach. "So we are getting good use out of them. We got some fresh guys in there to keep Manny more focused."

A resident of Raleigh, N.C., Holloway, 28, will take a nine-bout winning streak into his fight with Figueroa, whom he will meet before what should be a partisan crowd in nearby Camp Lejuene.

A native of Puerto Rico who lives in the Bronx, Figueroa had won 12 straight fights, including seven stoppages, before April's fourth-round knockout loss to Randall Bailey.

Figueroa is a southpaw, as is Pacquiao.

Porter, 22, will meet Ellis at Fitzgerald's Casino and Hotel in Tunica, Miss., where the junior middleweight from Akron, Ohio, will be making his sixth appearance.

"Shawn Porter has a great left hook [as does Cotto,] and he's a puncher," said Roach. "We used him quite a bit with Manny and we worked on getting away from that shot. He worked out really well for us."

Source: fanhouse.com

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Rashad Holloway in action with Manny Pacquiao
(Image is from http://www.philboxing.com/news/columns.php?aid=1130&id=19525)



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