Medina on Pacquiao: ‘Incredible’
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By Frank Cimatu
For Yahoo! Southeast Asia
BAGUIO CITY — Friday afternoon here at Shape Up Boxing Gym at the resort city of Baguio, Philippines, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao was the Golden Boy. He was wearing gold gloves, gold headgear and gold body protector when he sparred with Mexican welterweight champion Michael Medina for the first time.
Medina who is 5 foot 11 is much taller and younger but Pacquiao is faster and flashier, also because of his costume. The two slugged it out and at least three times during the bout Medina cornered Pacquiao and they exchanged blows. But after three rounds, it was Medina who sported a cut below his left eye. “F%$# incredible,” Medina said about Pacquiao. “He was very fast.”
The young Medina who actually played in the undercard of the Pacquiao – Joshua Clottey bout in Dallas was humbled by his fight with Pacquiao.
“I need to watch my basics. I don’t have fast feet like him. I need to learn.”
Pacquiao was humble after the sparring.
“He’s strong and moves like Margarito,” he said.
“My height is only up to his neck,” he said.
After sparring, Pacquiao spent the next two hours working the medicine and speed balls, then on to the punching bag. He jumped rope. He shadowboxed for four rounds and then did 30 minutes of push ups, sit ups and stretching before leaving for Manila for a speaking engagement.
Manny Pacquiao, after all, is a first term representative in the House of Congress.
But no one calls him “congressman”‘or “sir” here.
He was simply “Manny.” A young boy who had a picture with him called him “Tito.”
Even Freddie Roach don’t call him “Honorable.”
“I can’t call him congressman. Unless he tells me to,” Roach said.
“But I tell you, he’s the most famous boxer anyway,” he said.
“Recently, I had a boxer I was training fight in Uzbekistan. No one in the media there wanted to know about my boxer there. They wanted to know about Manny.”
Reposted From Yahoo! Southeast Asia
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