Pacquiao Hits Road in Baguio -- Manila Bulletin

By NICK GIONGCO, Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines — Manny Pacquiao hit Baguio City Sunday afternoon and by next morning, the boxing icon was jogging, sprinting and stretching at Burnham Park watched by awed residents who spread the welcome mat for the boxer who is getting ready for the November 13 faceoff with Antonio Margarito.

Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser Mike Koncz described the morning roadwork as “a full (morning) workout.”

“We began running at 6 a.m. and Manny looked terrific,” said Koncz, who finally heaved a sigh of relief after spending the first six days of training camp with Pacquiao and the entire team in Metro Manila.

There was a sizable crowd at Burnham Park where Pacquiao held his jogging and regular sprints and sit-ups, according to GMA 7 news reporter James Velasquez, activities Pacquiao failed to do when he was still in the lowlands.

Pacquiao will stay in the City of Pines in the next four weeks under the guidance of chief trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza and training assistants Buboy and Roger Fernandez and Nonoy Neri.

The 31-year-old Pacquiao had set up training camp in Baguio at around this same time last year during the run-up to the Miguel Cotto fight.

After his final workout at the Elorde Boxing Gym in Quezon City last Saturday, Pacquiao said he is still far from reaching fighting form although

Roach is convinced that the Filipino remains a hungry and determined fighter.

Roach is so sure that Pacquiao is getting the hang of training that he has scheduled his first sparring session Tuesday against Michael Medina.

“We’ll do three rounds with Medina,” said Roach, citing that another sparmate, Glen Tapia, is still recovering from a bum stomach.

If Roach decides to postpone Pacquiao’s first sparring, it will likely take place Thursday.

Roach intends to rack up 150 rounds of quality sparring for Pacquiao.

Source: mb.com.ph

Ariza Bares Secret to Pacman’s Power -- Manila Bulletin

By NICK GIONGCO, Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines – The key to Manny Pacquiao’s startling stamina and paralyzing power could be measured in one tiny scoop of powder that conditioning coach Alex Ariza mixes with water each time the Filipino climbs the ring for his daily workouts.

Nobody knows what it is but it apparently makes Pacquiao perform superhuman efforts coupled of course with a training regimen that puts even the finest athletes to shame.

Ariza told a couple of scribes that there’s nothing so special about it, saying it’s just a concoction of supplements as he puts the light-yellow granules into an aluminum can for Pacquiao to drink prior to another round of workout under Freddie Roach.

Ariza said he has to reinforce Pacquiao’s intake of supplements because of the sheer size of Antonio Margarito, the Mexican bomber Pacquiao is facing on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

“Margarito is big and strong,” said Ariza, implying that Pacquiao has to stand up to his 5-11 rival’s pushing and shoving at close range.

Of course, Ariza also regulates Pacquiao’s diet, which is composed of the basic food groups.

“Manny just eats the basic, beef, chicken, fish, rice and a 16 oz serving of protein shake (that is immediately given to Pacquiao after every workout)” said Ariza, who has been in Pacquiao’s training camp since 2008.

“No game meat,” Ariza said, smiling, recalling the incident in 2008 when Oscar De La Hoya was served deer meat and another exotic fare while preparing to face Pacquiao.

This will be the first time Pacquiao will fight at super-welterweight (154 lbs) although he and Margarito have agreed to fight at a catch weight of 151 lbs.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao’s training camp shifts to high gear this week as the fighter commences the thrice-a-week sparring sessions in Baguio City.

Freddie Roach said Pacquiao will begin sparring with Mexican Michael Medina most probably tomorrow (Tuesday).

Source: mb.com.ph

Real hard stuff starts in Baguio -- Philippine Star

By Abac Cordero, The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines - Coach Freddie Roach can only shake his head when told that Antonio Margarito has been training like hell.

“Even if he works hard, nobody works hard like Manny. Nobody,” said Roach on the eve of Team Pacquiao’s departure for Baguio where, according to the celebrated trainer, the real hard stuff begins.

It’s exactly 49 days or seven weeks before Manny Pacquiao climbs the ring against Margarito, on Nov. 13 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It’s the time for everyone to put their game faces on.

“It’s time to get serious,” said Roach, who wants sparring to begin tomorrow, behind closed doors at the Cooyeesan Plaza, the same place where they trained briefly for the Miguel Cotto fight last year.

Team Pacquiao arrived at the country’s summer capital around 5 p.m. yesterday.

Weather in Baguio is much colder than in Manila, with forecasts of a high of 26 degrees Celcius to a low of 15 over the next few days. Rainshowers are also in store for Pacquiao and his small party.

Its high altitude and rugged, mountainous terrains will give Pacquiao everything he needs.

Roach said their battle plan against Margarito isn’t done a hundred percent yet but insisted that Pacquiao already knows what to do against the taller but much slower fighter from Mexico.

Roach said Margarito can train as hard, as long as he wants to, and it still won’t make a difference in the fight.

“Okay, he is what he is,” he said of the 5-foot-11 ex-champion. “But this is our time.”

The four-time Trainer of the Year is talking about the fact that Pacquiao had stayed unbeaten for five years now, and that he can remain unbeatable for a long, long time if his work ethic stays the same.

In contrast, he said Margarito may find it easier to quit than put up a fight everybody wants to see.

“When he quit against Shane Mosley, his career was over I think. Here’s my philosophy: once you quit, it’s much easier to quit the second time,” said Roach as he looked back to Margarito’s big TKO loss to Mosley last year.

Again, he said it’s time to get serious, and tomorrow he plans to kick off sparring, and may tap Michael Medina, a fighter even taller than Margarito, to do three rounds with Pacquiao.

“He’s more like the opponent while Glen Tapia (the other sparring partner) is the cocky one. Maybe we can hold him up a bit,” he said, adding that Tapia could use another day or two to rest after going down last Wednesday because of some water he drank somewhere.

Doghouseboxing.com reported yesterday that Margarito, the disgraced ex-welterweight champion, is deep into training in El Monte, California, and will soon move to Oxnard for the tougher grind.

Margarito’s trainer, Robert Garcia, is quite impressed with the way things are going.

“He’s ready to fight. He’s close to weight already and his conditioning is good and he’s running the mountains that mostly everyone does in an hour. He did it in 47 minutes. So he’s ready. When we get to Oxnard, we’re going to be ready to spar and plan for the fight.”

But Roach isn’t giving Margarito a second look, especially after he saw the fight against Mosley.

“And that’s the way he will quit (against Pacquiao) I will bet that he’ll quit. I tell him that to his face. I’ll bet that you’ll quit,” he said couple of days ago.

As usual, Pacquiao would rather talk about himself than his opponent.

“I’m getting better. I think I’m 50 to 60 percent conditioned. But we have enough time. With Margarito, you need to practice hard,” he said.

Source: philstar.com

The right and the wrong about Floyd Mayweather Jr -- 8CountNews

By Brad Cooney, 8CountNews.com

It's been quite a year for Floyd Mayweather Jr. There is no questioning how good of a fighter Floyd Mayweather is. Floyd's accomplishments with boxing gloves on stands on its own merit. There are many things we can point out that's wrong with Floyd Mayweather, and the media including this writer has done plenty of pointing. Floyd makes it pretty easy for the media to bash him, he feeds the media. His decisions in life and being such a public figure makes him fair game.

Floyd has had a few opportunities to get into the ring against Manny Pacquiao and because of himself, and nobody else, that fight has not happened. The steroid allegations that resulted in a lawsuit filed against him for slander was the starting point of a horrible year for him. This was the first roadblock that Floyd threw in the way, and the accusations derailed the talks and ended any chance for the big fight to happen.

Round two of the negotiations crashed and burned when Floyd scoffed at Bob Arum's deadline for a decision. Even worse, Floyd denied that negotiations ever took place, and this turned out to be untrue. Negotiations did take place and for whatever reason once again Floyd ducked on the fight.

Mayweather then went on the Internet and launched a racial attack that disrespected every Asian man and woman on the planet. His attack on Filipinos and Manny Pacquiao was a disgusting display of disrespectful behavior that did a lot of damage to Floyd's already diminished reputation. Floyd realized that he had made a bad mistake and immediately apologized for what he had said, but not many people took him seriously and the apology for the most part fell on deaf ears. This has been a PR nightmare for Floyd.

The bad news didn't stop there. Just recently Floyd was arrested and charged with two felony counts and a stack of misdemeanor charges that accuse him of beating up his ex girlfriend, and stealing her phone. He is looking at additional charges for threatening his children.

Floyd finally has been quiet as of late, and probably because someone finally told him to shut up.

With all of this said, Floyd actually has done some good things for folks and it wouldn't be fair to blast the guy without pointing out some good things. Floyd does a lot of good things for the homeless folks in Las Vegas. He also does some good work with the youth in Las Vegas, and these two things should be pointed out. He's not all bad, and hopefully one day he will wake up and smell the coffee.

Floyd has done a very good job of destroying his reputation and now he has some damage control to do if he cares about fixing it. The path to fixing things is to get into the ring and fight Manny Pacquiao. If Floyd would just fight Pacquiao, and behave like a gentleman win, lose, or draw, that would be one big step toward repairing his bad reputation.

Source: 8countnews.com