After only two days on the ring and 15 rounds of doing the mitts, handlers of Manny Pacquiao had pronounced the seven-division world boxing champion ready to shift to the technical aspect of his preparations for his coming super-welterweight championship fight against Mexican Antonio Margarito.
Day 2 of Pacquiao’s training at the Elorde boxing gym in Del Monte in Quezon City produced results that even chief trainer Freddie Roach and assistant Buboy Fernandez were surprised.
So amazed was Roach, in fact, that he said the one-week session before going up to Baguio City, where Team Pacquiao is pitching camp, could proceed this weekend yet to mapping out game plan this early of the planned eight-week build up program.
Plan was to proceed to the Pines City this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on what the 31-years-old reigning World Boxing Organization welterweight champion’s wish, although Roach said the team can leave any day provided his ward should be in Baguio not later than Sunday. “He showed a lot of improvement compared to yesterday and I believe we can proceed to the second phase of preparations before the week ends,” Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer of nine years bared.
Except for some defects on coordination between his sight, on the one hand, and his feet and hands, on the other, which Roach and Fernandez noticed after Pacquiao did the double end ball, everything went the form chart in the other departments of game fight.
Building up the stamina and recovering the speed lost due to the long layoff since he last saw action against Joshua Clottey last March looked well on track, according to Fernandez, Pacquiao’s boyhood friend-turned trainer.
“Kailangan kasing malakas ang stamina bago kami umakyat ng Baguio. Kasi magbabago ang klima pagdating doon. Mainit ditto sa Maynila at malamig doon. Kapag nabigla, baka kapitan ng sakit,” the heavy-built Fernandez explained.
“Yang namang lack of coordination sa paa, kamay at mata, madali naman naming nakita kaya pinahinto ni Freddie sandali bago lumipat sa speed ball,” he added.
Roach agreed saying this early, Pacquiao has to learn how to use his hands, feet and eyes in order to distance himself from Margarito, a known aggressive fighter who banks on his punching power and forward stance against his opponents.
While Monday’s and yesterday’s session’s as well as the remainder of the week’s will be concentrated on shadow-boxing, punching mitts, and balls, next week, starting Tuesday, Roach disclosed, will start the more tedious sparring initially against two up-and-coming fighters he brought along with him in Manila.
They are junior welterweight Glen Tapia of the Dominican Republic and super-welterweight Michael Medina of Mexico.
Asked what benefits Pacquiao could get from Tapia, who owns a perfect 7-0 win-loss record in his early pro-career, five of them knockouts, and Medina, Roach simply retorted “all that many wants.”
He clarified later by saying: Tapia is very young, strong and tall like Margarito, while Medina is similarly powerful and at the same time aggressive whose style of fighting is also similar to Margarito.”
Two other sparring partner will be arriving Sunday – long-time partner Julio Cesar Chavez and Vanes Martirosyan.
Like the opening day session, relatively big crowd was on hand to see the country’s favorite son worked out, including his fellow Congressman JV Ejercito of San Juan City and former Manila Rep. Miles Roces.
(Eddie Alinea is the sports editor of sportsmanila.net)
Source: philboxing.com
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