MANILA, Philippines -- Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao gave his training mentors the slip Sunday, spending his first day in the United States on a trip from Los Angeles to San Diego to coach his basketball team in an exhibition game.
San Diego resident Pat Michael told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Pacquiao did not play in the game that pitted his basketball team against a high school selection at the Mira Mesa High School gymnasium.
He also said that assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez and the other members of Pacquiao’s team from Los Angeles “played for laughs,” even though they won both games they played.
Michael said that Pacquiao, who was supposed to rest before the start of his grueling two-week final grind Monday, was merely keeping a commitment and his presence in San Diego “made a lot of people happy.”
Present during the game was Pacquiao’s congressional chief of staff lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal and members of his entourage. They travelled to San Diego in three vans.
Pacquiao earlier attended Mass at the Christ The King Church where he was mobbed by fans. Then he took the two-and-a-half hour drive to San Diego.
Pacquiao’s nightly basketball games while training in Baguio and two weekend trips to Manila to fulfill various commitments had raised concern from his trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Arriza.
The Filipino ring icon, who will clash with Antonio Margarito for the WBC super welterweight title on November 13 in Arlington, Texas, resumes his buildup at the Wild Card Gym on Monday.
Roach, who has vowed to shut down the gym from 12 noon to 5 p.m., said Pacquiao has been set to spar on Tuesday against “some good punchers and some fresh people” who would push him to the limit.
Among his spar mates is undefeated light middleweight Vanes Martirosyan, who vowed to score a knockdown against Pacquiao and win the $1,000 bonus put up by Roach for anybody who drops Pacquiao in sparring.
With growing concern among some Team Pacquiao members and long-time supporters about the superstar’s focus, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum reluctantly spoke about a possible loss to Margarito.
“If Manny loses, then I would assume there is going to be a clamor for a rematch with Margarito,” Arum told the Philippine Daily Inquirer last week.
Arum, however, made it very clear that, “when dealing with Manny and his people and also my mental outlook, it’s very hard to consider him losing.”
Source: sports.inquirer.net
