By Ronnie Nathanielsz
After twelve solid rounds of sparring at the Wild Card Gym on Saturday, pound-for-pound phenomenon Manny Pacquiao looked at conditioning expert Alex Ariza, smiled and said “easy.”
That’s how Pacquiao, chasing a world title in a record-breaking seventh weight division against WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto felt after taking on undefeated Shawn Porter (10-0, 8 KO’s) over five rounds, four rounds with tough welterweight Rashad Holloway (11-1-1, 5 KO’s) and three rounds with super featherweight Raymund Beltran (22-4, 14 KO’s).
Conditioning expert Alex Ariza told us “I stake my reputation on this. Manny is going to be bigger and stronger than even Cotto.”
He said Pacquiao weighed in at 148 ¾ pounds prior to sparring and should have no problems at all in making the catch-weight of 145 pounds.
Ariza claimed that Cotto is “not as strong as Porter, is not as big as Porter and he is definitely not as athletic as Porter who is very quick, very strong and very crafty and he gave Manny some very good sparring. Even Freddie (Roach) said the same thing. He is a great sparring partner for this fight.”
The conditioning trainer who teamed up with celebrated three-time “Trainer of the Year” Roach to turn Pacquiao into an explosive fighter beginning with his 9th round demolition of David Diaz and his subsequent annihilation of Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton said “Manny has made all the adjustments, overcome the jetlag while all the other stuff or whatever is behind him. He stood up for twelve rounds and when we asked him how he felt he said ‘easy’. That’s all he said to me.”
Pacquiao will take a day off on Sunday and begin tapering off during the last two weeks before his “Fire Power” showdown against Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on November 14 on a fight card that will be telecast by Solar Sports and GMA 7 and will be carried “live” in theaters, restaurants, bars and stadiums across the country.
