A Full Recovery for Manny Pacquiao!

Pacman Recovers from the Flu!

After a short bout with the flu, Manny Pacquiao was back in the gym again Monday, sparring six rounds at the RWS Gym in Cebu and declaring his readiness for the tougher training days ahead.

Pacquiao was down over the weekend but after a brief rest and some medication was up on his feet playing basketball with local mediamen Sunday morning.

Trainer Freddie Roach hoped it would be Pacquiao’s last stint on the basketball court where he is susceptible to injuries like a sprained ankle or a pulled muscle.

Pacquiao moved well around the ring as he sparred six rounds in a Monday mid-afternoon session. He started the day with a 30-minute run at a local park.

“Goodbye lagnat (fever). Back to training na,” said Pacquiao, now with 31 rounds of sparring in his logbook. He said this should be the last time his training would be halted heading to the fight.

“He was not pushed that hard in sparring but still he looked fine,” said Pacquiao’s chief-of-staff Jake Joson, who also believe that the boxer should now stay away from the hardcourt.

“He had a talk with Freddie about his playing basketball. I think they’ve agreed that last Sunday’s would be the last. Manny said all he wanted was to work out some sweat,” said Joson.

Roach had suggested that Pacquiao skip sparring Monday, but it was the 28-year-old boxer who insisted, saying he didn’t want to disrupt the sparring schedule.

He spars on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and skipping Monday’s session the way he did last Friday was unacceptable for the Filipino fighter.

There are only 32 days left before Pacquiao fights Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas. Roach said they plan to shift their training to Los Angeles on Sept. 22.

Pacquiao spent some time with his wife Jinkee and daughter Princess at the beach on Sunday afternoon before treating some relatives and friends to dinner.

Two Sides for Manny Pacquiao

An apology and good news for Manny Pacquiao:

If you ask Brian Viloria what he’s up to, you’d probably get a reply from Mark Twain.

Yes, reports that Viloria has retired were grossly exaggerated.

In fact, Viloria, who had a brief reign as world light flyweight king, is scheduled to spar with the highly rated Rodel Mayol at the Pound-for-Pound gym in the La Brea area here Monday.

This was confirmed by trainer Nonoy Neri, who effectively sidelines as Team Pacquiao nutritionist, to the Philippine Daily Inquirer the other day after overseeing Mayol through 29 rounds of tough boxing drills at the Wild Card gym.

Neri, with a sharp eye for talent, should be able to determine where the young Viloria is really headed: Back for good into the boxing arena or inside the broadcast booth.

* * *

Fans back home may no longer miss Viloria, but we’ll also try to see and report if he still packs the old wallop.

Of course, the brighter news at Wild Card is the one that says Manny Pacquiao is scheduled to resume working out Monday in preparation for his Oct. 6 rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera.

You all know that the Pacman got stalled in training by the flu virus.

There were initial reports he had been rushed to the hospital.

“Is it serious enough to postpone the fight?” widely read SunStar columnist Homer Sayson texted from his cozy Chicago base.

* * *

Not to worry.

Ronnie Nathanielsz reported from Cebu that Pacquiao felt strong and restless on Saturday that he offered to promptly resume training.

He was, naturally, held in check by his physicians.

Otherwise, Pacquiao would have exposed himself to a crippling relapse.

Another piece of good news is this one from Freddie Roach.

The two-time Trainer of the Year has assured that Pacquiao’s brief bout with the flu would not in any way set back their timetable.

Roach, in fact, tried to explain that the forced break could prove helpful because Pacquiao “had already gone ahead of schedule.”

Of course, this update on Pacquiao’s latest condition is not expected to sound too good and bright to the Barrera camp.

No need to elaborate.

* * *

OK, we’ve been asked to do only a short piece, so let me confess that this was originally meant as an apology to the Pacman.

Why? Well, Manny may have not noticed it. Or, if he did, he must’ve brushed it off.

In my previous column (on distress calls from Wild Card), trainer Neri described Pacquiao, his big boss, as both super “mabait” (kind) and super “maawain”.

Sorry, but these endearing terms could’ve also been misconstrued and helped make Pacquiao appear pitiful.

For the record, though, everybody knows Pacquiao to be very merciful (maawain).

But the boxing super hero has always tried to be in control.

He has remained the captain of his soul, so to say.

But enough of that. All’s well that ends well, as Mr. Twain, rather Shakespeare, put it.

At least the hazy adjectives failed to cast a spell on Pacquiao, who’s anything but soft despite the tyrannical flu virus.

Bob Arum Predicts a Close Fight!

An insight from Bob Arum on The Will to Win:

THE OCTOBER 6 rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera is "going to be a very close competitive fight," Top Rank big boss Bob Arum told a leading website yesterday.

"I don’t know if it’s going to be a repeat performance," Arum told boxingtalk.net. "I am concerned that Manny Pacquiao is not training in Los Angeles. Barrera’s the kind of fighter, that when everybody counts him out, he gives an unbelievable performance. I am not looking for a repeat of what happened a number of years ago, when Pacquiao first fought Barrera."

Pacquiao stopped Barrera in the 11th round in November, 2003 in San Antonio, Texas.

Arum, who co-promotes the 12-rounder at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), admitted that the Filipino’s decision to cut short his Wild Card stint in favor of Cebu wasn’t a good idea but trainer Freddie Roach’s presence makes up for that.

"Yes, but one thing we have going for us is that Freddie is over there training with him. We get reports from Freddie every couple of days," added Arum.

Barrera is also in the thick of training in his adopted hometown of Guadalajara.

"Barrera is very determined and focused (on winning)," said GBP publicist Ramiro Gonzalez, who spent four days covering Barrera’s training recently.

Barrera regularly works out at the Gold’s Gym with the help of chief sparmate Takahiro Aoh of Japan, said to be a Pacquiao copycat.

Barrera, who turns 34 in January, is the huge underdog in the pay-per-view match billed "The Will To Win."

—Nick GIONGCO

Manny Pacquiao Back in Action!

After a short bout with the flu, Manny Pacquiao was back in the gym again yesterday, sparring six rounds at the EWS Gym in Cebu and declaring his readiness for the tougher training days ahead.

Pacquiao was down over the weekend but after a brief rest and some medication was up on his feet playing basketball with local mediamen Sunday morning.

Trainer Freddie Roach hoped it would be Pacquiao’s last stint on the basketball court where he is susceptible to injuries like a sprained ankle or a pulled muscle.

Yesterday, Pacquiao moved well around the ring as he sparred six rounds in a mid-afternoon session. He started the day with a 30-minute run at a local park.

“Goodbye lagnat (fever). Back to training na,” said Pacquiao, now with 31 rounds of sparring in his logbook. He said this should be the last time his training would be halted heading to the fight.

“He was not pushed that hard in sparring but still he looked fine,” said Pacquiao’s chief-of-staff Jake Joson, who also believe that the boxer should now stay away from the hardcourt.

“He had a talk with Freddie about his playing basketball. I think they’ve agreed that last Sunday’s would be the last. Manny said all he wanted was to work out some sweat,” said Joson.

Roach had suggested that Pacquiao skip sparring yesterday, but it was the 28-year-old boxer who insisted, saying he didn’t want to disrupt the sparring schedule.

He spars on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and skipping yesterday’s session the way he did last Friday was unacceptable for the Filipino fighter.

There are only 32 days left before Pacquiao fights Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas. Roach said they plan to shift their training to Los Angeles on Sept. 22.

Pacquiao spent some time with his wife Jinkee and daughter Princess at the beach on Sunday afternoon before treating some relatives and friends to dinner.

From PhilStar.com