INQUIRER Sports

HOLLYWOOD?THE YOUNG, TALL and good-looking young man slipped quietly into the Wild Card Gym Friday and watches intently as Manny Pacquiao trained.

He stayed for nearly two hours as Pacquiao breezed through 15 rounds of mitts session with trainer Freddie Roach before punishing the double-ended bag and speedball.

After issuing a challenge to fight Pacquiao, unbeaten junior middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. now seems to have changed his mind.

?Maybe someday,? said the 24-year-old Julio, son and namesake of the former world junior lightweight champion and Mexican legend Chavez Sr.

Chavez, who stands nearly 6-feet tall, told Filipino sportswriters that Pacquiao is a great fighter and without doubt, the world?s best at the moment.

Though Chavez, owner of an impressive 41 (30 knockouts)-0-1 record, picked Pacquiao to beat Clottey by unanimous decision, he thinks the Filipino ring icon is in for a tough defense of his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown on March 13 at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

?Clottey is also good and tough,? said Chavez Jr., who?s slated to fight in June against a yet to be named opponent after serving a suspension for having traces of a prohibited substance on his system.

Chavez appeared in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto showdown last Nov. 14, where he was unimpressive in posting a unanimous decision win over Troy Rowland.

His decision over Rowland was in stark contrast with the explosive show of Pacquiao, who stopped the bigger Cotto in 12 rounds to become the only boxer to hold seven titles in as many divisions.