Pacquiao enjoys rest after punishing regimen
Credit to Author: EDDIE G. ALINEA| Date: Thu, 04 Jul 2019 16:14:18 +0000
LOS ANGELES: One week after declaring himself in fighting form and ready to battle fellow WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman anytime, Filipino ring legend Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday enjoyed a full-day, complete respite from training.
For the first time since setting foot here a little over a month ago, the 40-year-old WBA regular belt owner failed to show up at the Griffith Park mountains as well as the flat Pan Pacific Park circuit for his daily roadwork that caused his regular followers, plain kibitzers and team members to lose tract of his whereabouts that day.
Including former two-time victim-turned close friend and fellow future Hall of Famer Erik Morales, now a congressman in Mexico, who, a day earlier interviewed him for his television program, went to Griffith to see him, but didn’t.
Even strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, who told this writer on Tuesday afternoon of the cancellation of Wednesday’s buildup session was seen at Griffith, thinking perhaps that the fighting senator could have a change of mind like before and show up, anyway.
The routine punching the mitts with training consultant that normally followed the Griffith run was, likewise, dispensed with.
“We had to give Manny a good, complete rest,” Fortune said on Tuesday. “He looked sluggish and tired during sparring and we — Freddie, Buboy and the rest of the training team realized that.”
“He had a terrific fortnight on the road and in the gym since he arrived here in the US and he, indeed, needs to pull back on training, especially now that he had achieved what we wanted him to achieve,” the former Australian heavyweight said.
Fortune was, of course, referring to the daily morning runs of three to five miles with hundreds of fans trailing, followed by one thousand sit-ups and assorted drills,.
Count his afternoon workouts at the at the Wild Card Gym, with 10 rounds of sparring, 10-12 rounds of working the mitts with Freddie and Buboy Fernandez.
Plus endless rounds of heavy bag double end and speed balls capped off with another 1,000 sit-ups that Pacquiao had been undergoing in the rigorous run up to the fight that, likewise, catapulted him from an earlier status as underdog earlier to now favorite.
The sweet science’s only eight-division world titleholder and the “One Time” Thurman from Clearwater, Florida will battle in a welterweight world title unification showdown on July 20 (July 21 in Manila) at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
“Manny’s now betting favorite. He Has Thurman’s number, “Roach, likewise, declared on Tuesday.
“Thurman is slower than Heinz ketchup. Manny is going to beat him 57 ways on July 20. The fans know it, and the sports books know it,” Roach asserted. “Manny has gone from underdog to a betting favorite.“
Shawn Porter, a former Pacquiao sparmate, who lost to Thurman in 2018, agrees with Roach. “I think,” Porter said on the Premier Boxing Champions YouTube channel, “that he’s still fast enough, quick enough, and explosive enough to beat Keith Thurman.”
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