by Ronnie Nathanielsz
Celebrated trainer Freddie Roach wants Manny Pacquiao’s weekend trips to Manila stopped and said no matter whether Pacquiao rests by sleeping in his car “it is definitely tiring and won’t do him any good.”
Roach told BoxingScene.com/Inquirer after Pacquiao’s workout at the Shape Up Gym in Baguio City on Tuesday that one other issue he’s been upset about, Manny’s playing basketball almost nightly and skipping roadwork the following morning, will also stop.
Roach said “tomorrow is his last day playing basketball.”
With growing concern over his trips to Manila, playing basketball and missing his morning run, Pacquiao clearly got cracking in training Tuesday.
Two weekends ago Pacquiao drove down to Camp Aguinaldo to attend the PMA Alumni Association Family Sportsfest while last weekend he arrived in Manila to participate in the 101010 run in the effort of the ABS-CBN Foundation headed by Gina Lopez to save the Pasig river.
Although he arrived in Baguio City past midnight on Monday after meeting with executive secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr and attending to some of his duties in congress and skipped jogging, Pacquiao sparred seven rounds, four with undefeated Glen Tapia (7-0, 5 KO’s) and three with the more experienced Michael Medina (24-2-2, 19 KO’s).
Roach said the sparring was “good” and indicated Pacquiao was “doing fine.”
He also told us that Pacquiao would spar later in the week with WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan who has been training alongside the pound-for-pound king both in Baguio City and at the Rizal Memorial track last Monday when strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza pushed Pacquiao in a variety of drills which he said were "tough but only the beginning."
Pacquiao continued the strength and conditioning routine in Baguio, pushing himself hard with just over one month left before he faces a bigger, taller Antonio Margarito in a battle for the vacant WBC super welterweight title at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on November 13.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who is scheduled to arrive in Manila on Saturday and will proceed to Baguio for a media preview with Pacquiao on October 18 was quoted by Michael Marley on boxingscene.com as saying Pacquiao would have a second media day at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles on October 27.
Arum was not inclined to believe reports that Pacquiao was sluggish in sparring last Saturday although he conceded "Its always this way with Manny. But when he gets to the US there are less distractions for him. All the distractions, and there are a lot, go away when he leaves the Philippines" in a conversation with Marley.
Pacquiao’s chief-of-staff Joe Ramos said he was with Amir Khan who was recognized during his appearance in Congress and that they left for Baguio after dinner, arriving at around 2:00 a.m. while Pacquiao decided to have dinner in his car while on the long drive to the summer capital.
