By Ronnie Nathanielsz
MANILA, Philippines -- Pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao sparred eleven rounds on Wednesday with four different opponents at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and looked sharper than ever.
Trainer Freddie Roach supervised the sparring session after returning from England, where he worked the corner of Amir Khan, who retained his WBA light welterweight title with a sixth round TKO over Paul McCloskey, last Saturday.
Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Roach “got right into it and was very pleased” with what he saw.
Pacquiao sparred three rounds with Karim Mayfield, four with Shawn Porter and two each with longtime sparring partners Raymund Beltran and David Rodela.
Ariza said “Manny looked very sharp and right after he did 11 rounds he wanted me to get ready for his strength training.”
Pacquiao is preparing for his showdown with former three-time world champion Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 7.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who watched Manny’s workout along with Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler said “Manny looked tremendous.”
Arum also disclosed that he had discussed what he described as “absolutely phenomenal” endorsement deals with Pacquiao that were going to be “very lucrative because he is really admired all over the world.”
Arum said one of the deals would be probably bigger than that of former heavyweight champion George Foreman.
He said under one agreement, Pacquiao’s picture would be on “every bag sold all over the world that contains vegetables.”
Arum also disclosed that another deal would have Pacquiao as one of the “celebrity endorsers of the Hewlett Packard IPad, which will also be all over the world.”