
Pacquiao Looks Sharp in Likely Final Sparring Session
“Fighter of the Decade and eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao sparred five rounds on Saturday against rugged Russian welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov and did well.

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“Fighter of the Decade and eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao sparred five rounds on Saturday against rugged Russian welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov and did well.

Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire is in awesome shape after training like he never trained before for his WBO super bantamweight title defense in a unification bout with IBF champion Jeffrey Mathebula of South Africa on July 7 at the Home Dept Center in Carson City, California.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said before Manny Pacquiao pulverized Oscar de la Hoya who quit on his stool at the end of seven rounds, that “speed kills.”

Genaro “Poblanito” Garcia, the Mexican super bantamweight who vowed to take the inexperienced Genesis “Azukal/Sugar” Servania to school, instead learned a painful lesson when he was dropped twice in the twelfth round and lost by a TKO to the undefeated 20 year old Filipino in a blockbuster fight card presented by ALA Promotions and ABS-CBN at the plush Resorts World Hotel in Manila on Saturday.

The World Boxing Council, headed by its president Don Jose Sulaiman, says it regrets the press releases reportedly emanating from Manila about complaints by the promoter and team members of Genaro “Poblanito” Garcia regarding supposed bad treatment from the Filipino promoter, the respected ALA Promotions.

“Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) sparred six rounds at the Wild Card Gym on Thursday against two Russian sparring partners and looked good. His strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza told the Manila Standard after Pacquiao sparred with tough Russian Welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov who has a record of 21-1 with 14 knockouts and undefeated Russian super featherweight Evgeny Chuparako that Pacquiao “is right now at his peak but we’ve got to slow him down.”

In an unusual reaction to his opponent being three pounds over the flyweight limit, WBO No. 1 ranked Milan "El Metodico" Melindo (26-0, 10 KO's) welcomed former WBO light flyweight champion Jesus Geles of Colombia (13-2-1, 5 KO's) being over the 112 pound limit.

WBO light flyweight champion Donnie "Ahas" Nietes (29-1-3, 16 KO's) realizes that he needs to entertain fight fans when they flock to the Resort World Hotel on Saturday to watch his first title defense against tough-talking Mexican challenger Felipe Salguero (16-2-1, 11 KO's) and he plans to do just that in the fight c ard to be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. over the pre-eminent Channel 2.

Widely respected international referee Bruce McTavish who is also vice president of the Ring Officials Committee of the World Boxing Council is recovering well from surgery for a growth on his lip which was getting bigger and bothering him.

The real Genaro “Poblanito” Garcia arrived in Manila “ready to clean his name and that of Mexican boxing” according to the World Boxing Council.