Pacquiao recalls ‘hardest’ training camp
GENERAL SANTOS CITY: Dedication in training and commitment to the sport he loves most was what newly crowned World Boxing Association welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao said was the secret of his getting back to competitive form that made him, among others, the only fighter in history to emerge as a crown holder in eight weight divisions.
“From the time the moment the fight against WBA titlist Lucas Matthysse was announced and since we, my training team and myself, pitched camp, I promised to dedicate myself to seriously prepare for this fight,” Pacquiao told this writer in an interview on board a Philippine Airlines flight Monday that brought him and his team from Kuala Lumpur to this, his called his home.
Pacquiao took the measure of who is supposed to be a hard-punching Argentine titleholder on Sunday, sending him crawling on the floor three times en route to an easy seven round TKO win, reclaiming a piece of the 147-pound diadem and, in the process, ending a lasts nine-year campaign without stopping an opponent.
Manny Pacquiao greets well-wishers upon his arrival in GenSan. PHOTO BY WENDELL ALINEA/MP PROMOTIONS
“That was the hardest training camp we had, I tell you, Pacquiao attested. “I had to deprive myself of things I used to do in my previous fights, like playing basketball and chess at nights.”
“According to Buboy and rest of the team those had served as distractions,” in my past preparations, “he narrated in reference to strength and conditioning consultant Justin Fortune, Nonoy Neri, Roger “Haplas” Fernandez and Ting Ariosa.
“I complied to all those restrictions as part of the change I myself had initiated to recover from past mistakes that cost us what could have been easy triumphs, ” he said.
“Playing billiards and darts were also not permitted,” he said. “Why, even my duties and responsibilities were reduced to the minimum. “T’was good the Senate was in recess in the duration of the program kaya walang mayadong epekto sa pagiging lawmaker ko.”
The soon-to-be 40-year-old fighting senator said pitching the camp in GenSan helped in the sense that he didn’t miss his family — wife Jinkee and children Jimwell, Michael, Princess, Queenie and Israel — much unlike before when preparations ere held in Manila and Los Angeles.
“The camp was good. One if the best we held,” Pacquiao assured. “Everything went well. We covered all the bases as early as two weeks before the fight. Everybody was cooperating, consulting with everyone on what to do and not to do. “
It was long in terms of days and weeks but short and intense in terms of hour in the road and in the gym.
“The camp was so smoothly run na-extend ito sa actual fight. My victory was actually a victory for Buboy and the training team. We made our game plan ahead of time and we executed them perfectly during the fight,” he assessed.
“More than anything else though, utang na loob natin itong lahat sa Panginoon na walang sawa tayong pinapatnubayan at pinangangalagaan sa lahat ng oras, Pacquiao relayed.
“That Sunday night in KL God showed us once more that with Him, nothing is impossible. He’s good really, he said.
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