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KO artist joins Pacquiao’s team
Manny Pacquiao has added another personnel to beef up his training team for
his May 2 duel with Ricky Hatton with the acquisition of Mike Alvarado, a
rugged super-lightweight (140-lbs) prospect from Denver who trainer Freddie
Roach said has the quality to force the Filipino to be on his toes all the time
in sparring.
Roach tapped Alvarado, holder of a 25-0 win-loss record with 18 knockouts,
to join a star-studded lineup of sparmates that also includes undefeated
lightweight (135 lbs) star Urbano Antillon and welterweight (147 lbs)
Raymond Serrano of Philadelphia, who has a 9-0 slate with five knockouts
under his belt.
(Mike Alvarado's last fight against Emmanuel Clottey)
During Tuesday’s (Wednesday in Manila) session, Pacquiao and Alvarado
worked out for three rounds and Mike Koncz, a senior adviser in Pacquiao’s
camp, noted that while the sparring was intense, “they were still trying to
feel each other out.”
“Manny’s on training mode right now and he’s very focused,” said Koncz,
adding that aside from Alvarado, Pacquiao also took on Antillon and the
19-year-old Serrano to further hike the number of sparring rounds as he
prepares to enter the most crucial phase of his preparation next week.
Alvarado is under contract with Top Rank and is slated to see action in the
Pacquiao-Hatton undercard at the MGM Grand.
Alvarado’s arrival came on the heels of Hatton’s hiring of Cuban southpaw
Erislandy Lara, a former world amateur welterweight champion now fighting
as a super-welterweight (154 lbs) in the professional ranks.
Lara, a talent of Golden Boy Promotions and Arena Promotions based in
Hamburg, Germany, is a 5-foot-8 hard-hitter with Pacquiao-like moves
specially with the left hand.
Hatton and Lara kicked off sparring that lasted six rounds last week at the
IBA Gym in Las Vegas, the same facility that Pacquiao utilizes whenever he is
in Sin City.
Meanwhile, Top Rank head Bob Arum told the Bulletin that Pacquiao is
hosting a media day on April 15 at the Wild Card.
It’s not as if the Pacquiao-Hatton fight needs another event to drum up more
interest for the scheduled 12-rounder but the Hall of Fame promoter believes
the media day is going to fire up the supporters of each camp.
“The attention we’ve been getting is incredible, much better than while we
were doing the (Pacquiao versus) De La Hoya fight (last year),” said Arum,
who will actually be in Manila from April 17 to 20 to preside over the Nonito
Donaire-Raul Martinez world title match at the Araneta Coliseum in the
morning of April 19.
Manny Pacquiao has added another personnel to beef up his training team for
his May 2 duel with Ricky Hatton with the acquisition of Mike Alvarado, a
rugged super-lightweight (140-lbs) prospect from Denver who trainer Freddie
Roach said has the quality to force the Filipino to be on his toes all the time
in sparring.
Roach tapped Alvarado, holder of a 25-0 win-loss record with 18 knockouts,
to join a star-studded lineup of sparmates that also includes undefeated
lightweight (135 lbs) star Urbano Antillon and welterweight (147 lbs)
Raymond Serrano of Philadelphia, who has a 9-0 slate with five knockouts
under his belt.
(Mike Alvarado's last fight against Emmanuel Clottey)
During Tuesday’s (Wednesday in Manila) session, Pacquiao and Alvarado
worked out for three rounds and Mike Koncz, a senior adviser in Pacquiao’s
camp, noted that while the sparring was intense, “they were still trying to
feel each other out.”
“Manny’s on training mode right now and he’s very focused,” said Koncz,
adding that aside from Alvarado, Pacquiao also took on Antillon and the
19-year-old Serrano to further hike the number of sparring rounds as he
prepares to enter the most crucial phase of his preparation next week.
Alvarado is under contract with Top Rank and is slated to see action in the
Pacquiao-Hatton undercard at the MGM Grand.
Alvarado’s arrival came on the heels of Hatton’s hiring of Cuban southpaw
Erislandy Lara, a former world amateur welterweight champion now fighting
as a super-welterweight (154 lbs) in the professional ranks.
Lara, a talent of Golden Boy Promotions and Arena Promotions based in
Hamburg, Germany, is a 5-foot-8 hard-hitter with Pacquiao-like moves
specially with the left hand.
Hatton and Lara kicked off sparring that lasted six rounds last week at the
IBA Gym in Las Vegas, the same facility that Pacquiao utilizes whenever he is
in Sin City.
Meanwhile, Top Rank head Bob Arum told the Bulletin that Pacquiao is
hosting a media day on April 15 at the Wild Card.
It’s not as if the Pacquiao-Hatton fight needs another event to drum up more
interest for the scheduled 12-rounder but the Hall of Fame promoter believes
the media day is going to fire up the supporters of each camp.
“The attention we’ve been getting is incredible, much better than while we
were doing the (Pacquiao versus) De La Hoya fight (last year),” said Arum,
who will actually be in Manila from April 17 to 20 to preside over the Nonito
Donaire-Raul Martinez world title match at the Araneta Coliseum in the
morning of April 19.
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