INQUIRER Sports

BAGUIO CITY -- Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao has taken up swimming to make up for the road work he has lost to the weather.

“For the last eight years I’ve been trying to get Manny in the pool,” Roach told the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday. “With the rain here we finally got him in the pool.”

Pacquiao has missed days of road work due to intermittent rains here. The experience may have not been pleasant for Pacquiao but overall, Roach believes his prized ward has acknowledged the positive effect of it.

“He swallowed a lot of chlorine but he learned to swim quite quickly,” said Roach. “I think I actually liked it overall because when he started to work out he realized how hard it was.”

Pacquiao’s date with the pool last Friday lasted for 26 minutes.

Roach expects Pacquiao to be sore in the muscles and that, added the trainer, comes with the territory.

“It’s like weightlifting but it doesn’t make you tight and slow so it’s a really a wonderful workout. I think we’ll get him back there again,” added Roach.

Roach has been urging his fighters to make swimming a part of their regimen and most, if not all of them realized its many benefits.

Meanwhile, former WBC lightweight king Jose Luis Castillo is set to arrive today here via a private plane to begin sparring sessions with Pacquiao, who is preparing for his November 14 bout with Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Castillo arrived Friday but had to stay in Manila as all roads to and from this city remains impassable.

Pacquiao’s other two sparring mates are Shawn Porter and Urbano Antillon, and in the recent week, he has had mixed results with the two.

“Shawn and Urbano pretty evened up with Manny, but last Thursday Manny dominated both,” said Roach.

In other developments, Team Pacquiao is reportedly planning to leave for the US earlier than the planned October 24 schedule because the storm that hit this vacation capital recently has caused a lot of hitches in training.