By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Trainer Freddie Roach, obviously concerned with just one week to go before the “Dream Match” between his prized possession Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on December 6, cancelled the planned public send-off for Pacquiao at the Wild Card Gym.
The second-off was planned for December 1 in Los Angeles but Roach has seen enough in recent days to want to get serious as Pacquiao winds down for the biggest challenge of his life against the bigger De La Hoya at 147 pounds.
Roach said “its time to get down to business. Monday is our last day of training camp and we have a lot to work on.”
He astutely sought to cover up his own concerns by claiming that he had “discovered a new flaw in Oscar’s defense from a recent fight tape and we’re adding a new weapon in Manny’s repertoire.”
Roach emphasized he “didn’t want any distractions from that and I don’t want Manny held up from a timely departure from the gym. Cancelling Monday’s rally is totally my c all. I’m sure Manny’s fans will understand.”
Insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports learned that Roach’s concern was that Pacquiao was getting tagged a little too much by welterweight Rashad Holloway (9-1, 5 KO’s) in sparring before picking up against undefeated Marvin “Much Too Much” Cordova (20-0-1, 11 KO’s).
Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza said that Pacquiao is always in a hurry to start sparring and said “we need to warm up a little bit more and get him loose and sweating a little bit more.”
Ariza said he will wind up training at the Wild Card with three rounds of sparring on Monday. He said Pacquiao sparred seven rounds Saturday, going four rounds with Holloway and three with Cordova and it “went very well. Manny looks ready.”
He conceded that Pacquiao “started off a little slow but once he got worked up, he was great.”
Ariza like Roach is very pleased with the way training camp has gone and said Pacquiao “looks great, he really does” but he cautioned that what happens on fight night is different. But Ariza made it clear that if Pacquiao follows the game-plan and executes everything well, he’ll be fine.
