Team Pacman: We're ready to go
HOLLYWOOD – There’s only one problem in Manny Pacquiao’s camp, and it has nothing to do with speed, stamina and any form of distraction.
“The fight is still one week away. That’s the problem,” Mike Koncz told Manila-based reporters inside the sauna-like dressing room of the Wild Card Gym.
“If the fight is held tomorrow, we’re ready to go. Absolutely,” Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser added Wednesday (Los Angeles time), a very hot and humid day here.
“It’s a good thing you said that. I’m ready. Everything is back to normal,” Pacquiao responded as he sat on a wooden stool and dressed up after an impressive two-hour workout.
Just earlier outside, up in the ring, Pacquiao pounded the mitts with Freddie Roach, and shadow boxed like Antonio Margarito was right in front of him.
As Pacquiao cooled down with the ropes and his abdominal exercises, Roach watched from one corner of the ring. He smiled most of the time, looking satisfied with his boxer’s development the past few days.
“I’m ready. I already tested my stamina when I sparred 12 rounds (last Saturday). Freddie is now very happy with my performance,” said Pacquiao.
The 31-year-old superstar is in his few days of training for the Nov. 13 showdown with Margarito. He will train here in LA until Monday, the day he leaves for Texas.
Pacquiao said he will spar seven or eight rounds Thursday, and the number continues to drop until Saturday.
“It’s more of the strategy now. We have prepared different strategies we can use for the fight. But it’s still the speed that will carry me through here,” he said.
Pacquiao spoke to a gorgeous TV reporter, not from the Philippines, and said while he admits that Margarito has the advantage in size, both in height and reach, he has the speed.
“We can use that so he cannot use his own advantage. If there’s speed, there’s nothing to worry about,” he said.
Again, like in all his previous fights, Pacquiao vowed to put on a show for the crowd that is expected to fill the Cowboys Stadium on fight night, and the millions who will watch through pay-per-view.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a tough fight. I’m sure there will be a lot of action in the ring because of his style. He’s aggressive.
He sounded so confident of a victory that he talked about a concert he’s doing on the 16th, three days after the fight, in Lake Tahoe.
“After winning I will have a concert there. Then I go back to the Philippines, and go back to Congress,” he said.
Notes: Laurence Cole, who called a slip a knockout, and a knockout a slip, when Manny Pacquiao fought Marco Antonio Barrera in San Antonio, Texas, in 2003, will be the third man on the ring when the Filipino slugger faces Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at the Cowboys Stadium..... Pacquiao said around 50 of the close to 300 members of the Philippine Congress will fly to Texas to watch him fight. Too bad Rep. Imelda R. Marcos isn’t one of them because it would have made Bob Arum happy. “She’s such a wonderful lady. And I always get a kick out of her,” said the 77-year-old Top Rank president, who first met the former First Lady during the staging of the Thrilla in Manila a long, long time ago.... There’s been a change of plan. Pacquiao will no longer take a 12-seater plane from LA to Texas on Monday. Instead he has decided to rent a jumbo jet to accommodate his entourage, close to 200 of them, the way he did for the Joshua Clottey fight last March.. - By Abac Cordero (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)
Reposted From Abac Cordero of Philstar.com
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