Tweet
Pacquiao is getting stopped again...
-
-
I am still eager to see a Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight. It's really pissing me off that the fight didn't take place. Pacquiao vs Mayweather would simply be great!Comment
-
manny should've fought mayweather instead, or a soft hitter of some kind. rios is the hardest puncher between 140-147 and pac was just knocked out
Comment
-
Damn, he looks fast and like he's hitting hard. Someone is getting starched, i really cant see this going 12.Comment
-
I would hate to be in the receiving end of those punches! He looks sharp, I think Rios id going to pay for Marquez! lolComment
-
by Ryan ******** October 03, 2013
MANILA, Philippines – Tuesday afternoon marked the official start of the sparring
phase of Manny Pacquiao's training camp for his Nov. 24 clash with Brandon Rios
at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China.
Filipino middleweight Marlon Alta and Ghanaian welterweight Fredrick Lawson
would have the honors of being the first to test Pacquiao's punch resistance
following his sixth-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December.
The early returns are that Pacquiao can still take a punch and has more fight left in
him.
The eight-division world titleholder Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 knockouts) sparred two
rounds each with Alta (12-3, 9 knockouts) and Lawson (21-0, 19 KOs) at the
Pacman Wild Card Gym in General Santos City, Philippines. Both were motivated by
a $1,500 bounty for each knockdown scored against Pacquiao.
Lawson's manager Mike Altamura was one of nearly 100 observers on hand to
witness the sessions. According to Altamura, Pacquiao began with Alta, whom he
had done light sparring with the previous week after South Korean Min Wook-Kim
failed to show up.
Alta, who stands 5-foot-10, is a former Philippine middleweight champion but
hasn't fought since being stopped in six rounds by Japan's Makoto Fuchigami last
October.
“With Alta, [Pacquiao] shifted and he moved a lot the first round,” Altamura tells
******.com . “[Pacquiao] kept imploring him to come in and punch him. Pretty
much for the first minute and a half, Manny just blocked and defended, he didn't
really counter much. If you didn't know what you were watching, you'd think the
other guy was beating the f__k out of him.
“But Manny was just getting accustomed to the speed of the punches and letting
him come forward,” continued Altamura. “The last minute and a half, he started
turning it up and pushing him back. Round two was a Pacquiao clinic. Alta was
pressing but Manny was timing him a lot more and catching him with 5-6-7 punch
combinations. He was really sharp.”
Alta told ******.com afterwards that he was hurt with a Pacquiao left cross to the
body in the second round.
Next up was Lawson, a former member of the Ghanaian amateur team and a
prospective signee to MP Promotions. Altamura says that Pacquiao approached
Lawson with the same initial caution he exercised with Alta before opening up
later.
“He just had a good look at Fredrick, finding his range,” said Altamura. “Lawson
caught him with some nice jabs – really stiff jabs – and dropped a few good right
hands on him, but Manny found his timing a minute and a half in again. Freddie
kept pressing him with good exchanges, Manny hit him in the exchanges but it was
competitive.
“Then in the fourth round, Fredrick tired a bit. He shifted a bit too much on Manny
so Manny kept imploring at him to pressure him. Manny was really sharp with his
timing, caught him with some good right hooks and some fast 1-2s. Freddie landed
a few good shots but it was very much a Pacquiao round. Manny outworked him.
Manny hit him with a pretty hard low blow and they had a pretty good laugh about
it. Manny then hit him with a good left hand over the top.”
Local boxing manager John Ray Manangquil was also in attendance. Having seen
many of Pacquiao's training sessions from past fights, he said he noticed a
marked improvement in Pacquiao's stamina at this point in training compared to
the Marquez fight last year.
“Manny was very fast and aggressive,” said Manangquil. “He's strong; every time
he got tagged, he was saying to hit him more. He was saying ‘Punch more, punch
more.’ [Pacquiao] is not really punching that hard because [Lawson] just arrived,
but give him three more days.”
Manangquil felt Lawson was an effective sparring partner for Pacquiao.
“His punches are crispy. I think he will bring the best of Manny Pacquiao. He's so
fast.”
Altamura feels that Lawson moved too much during the sparring session, which is
in contrast to the aggressive, come-forward approach of the former WBA
lightweight titleholder Rios (31-1-1, 23 KOs). Then again, that is the style that
Lawson is most comfortable with.
“The only thing is we probably moved too much on Manny,” said Altamura. “He's
got to come forward a lot more. We need to mimic Rios a bit more.
“I think it’s hard finding your timing on the first session against a fleet-footed
southpaw. Maybe it’s a slight confidence thing, but I think once he gets more
familiar he'll start pressing more. Freddy is a good boxer-mover. I told [Pacquiao
advisor Michael] Koncz before we got here that Freddy can fight on the front foot,
but he's probably 60-40 on the back foot when he fights. Freddy moves better
than Rios and has punches in his arsenal that Rios doesn't have. Not saying he's
a better fighter, but he's very different stylistically, so it'll take some adjusting.”
Lawson seemed to grow in confidence after his first time in the ring with a fighter
the caliber of Pacquiao. “It was a good sparring session,” Lawson said. “Manny is
a good boxer, a good puncher and good at movement.
“But the next time I work with him, I'm going to catch him.”
Altamura said that sparring will be resume on Saturday afternoon, with sessions on
Tuesday and Thursday scheduled for next week.
Pacquiao's head trainer Freddie Roach is set to arrive in General Santos City next
Monday, with rehired strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune set to arrive
Sunday. Roach is said to be bringing with him a pair of sparring partners to join
the Pacquiao camp.Comment
Comment