‘Beast in the ring, angel outside’

POWER BREAK Manny Pacquiao takes a breather after his usual power bomb of a workout at Wild Card gym in Hollywood on Tuesday. REM ZAMORA

HOLLYWOOD—He hit the ropes and corner paddings hard, then threw punches in the air while cutting the ring. Later, he showed his abs and hummed a meaningful song, obliging the media.

Just outside the gym, he met two cerebral palsy victims, one wheelchair-bound, chatted with them and posed for a photograph that brought wide smiles to their faces.

Earlier in the day, Manny Pacquiao was a beast, but his aggressiveness in training must have drained the beast in him. He became an angel at the end of his workout on Tuesday afternoon at Wild Card gym here.

Informed that Kenny Bayless had been appointed referee, Pacquiao said the Nevada Athletic Council made the right choice. “He’s a good referee, fair. I like the way he does his job.”

Bayless has refereed several of Pacquiao’s fights, including his fourth meeting with Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas in 2012 when he counted out Pacquiao for a knockout with one second left in the sixth round.

Feeling light and energetic after sparring for eight rounds and doing the mitts for six, Pacquiao was craving more work. But he eventually acceded to chief trainer Freddie Roach’s orders. He knows that with only a few days to go before his May 2 megabucks bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr., there’s no need to rush. From here on, timing is everything.

Power bomb

Pacquiao, however, let Roach feel how strong he was, unloading a bomb that landed on the chest armor and nearly took the wind out of the Hall of Fame trainer.

“It’s the hardest he’d hit me ever,” a drained but happy Roach told Manila-based sportswriters who were allowed inside his gym that had been off-limits for the past three weeks of training camp. “I’m still hurting, but that’s what I want [from him],” said Roach, who was clearly satisfied with Pacquiao’s performance as preparations started to taper off on Tuesday.

Though sparring was still held beyond closed doors, a former world champion who was granted access said Pacquiao was quick and light on his feet while heavy and sneaky with his punches.

Assuring his fans back home and his fellow Filipinos all over the world, Pacquiao said he’s doing his best to reach 100 percent, not only physically and mentally, but also spiritually.

“Everything is all set, I’m ready for the fight,” said Pacquiao, who earlier in the day ran from his home at Plymouth Boulevard to Pan Pacific Park.

There, a throng of fans and reporters waited for him as he went around the park once and proceeded to the steel-fenced circular enclosure where he does his crunches.

Rapping with apl.de.ap

Internationally renowned Philippine-born rapper and Black Eyed Peas lead vocalist apl.de.ap, Allan Pineda in real life, joined him in the core-strengthening drills.

Before that, however, apl.de.ap rendered a rap, Filipino, to which Pacquiao responded with a rap similar in content and tone.

He rested for a while in his black Escalade before heading home for breakfast and rest.

Hours later, Pacquiao was at Wild Card for his afternoon training session with Roach, strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune and assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez and Nonoy Neri.

Once again, Pacquiao put on a show against two sparring partners, to the delight of his trainers.

Roach was so pleased that he finally gave his security chief, Rob Peters, the signal to let the journalists in. They scrambled to get in and were lucky to see Pacquiao winding up his training.

‘One Friend’

As he was being given a rubdown by Fernandez and Neri, Pacquiao closed his eyes and sang “One Friend” by Dan Seals with feeling. As he sang the line “If I had only one friend left, I’d want it to be you,” it might have been in reference to Fernandez, a boyhood friend.

Or perhaps, aware of the song’s message regarding faith, understanding and belief anchored on one friend, the devout born-again Christian might have been singing about God.

As always, Pacquiao replied to all questions, including his possible inclusion in the fourth edition of the “Expendables” movie series. “Let’s talk about it after the fight,” he said.

Asked to comment on Roach’s remark that he’s so ready he would have wanted the fight to happen tomorrow, Pacquiao replied that he’d waited this long, so he could wait for May 2 to finally fight Mayweather at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

A broadcaster asked if he was going to shave for his appearance in the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on Wednesday night. He replied: “Do I need to?”

Always mean in the ring

He was asked: Why, do you want to look mean for the fight?

He replied: “I’m always mean in the ring, but not outside the ring.”

After good-natured banter with a Los Angeles-based Filipino TV reporter who had trouble with a tongue-twisting Tagalog word, he turned serious.

He sent a message to the Filipino people: “Don’t be nervous. I’ll be the one fighting. Please pray for me.”

When he stepped out of the gym, Pacquiao approached two boxing fans who had been waiting for him at the parking lot for nearly seven hours.

He spoke with Jember Carcamo of Los Angeles and Memo Gomez of Mexico, both of whom have cerebral palsy, and signed their memorabilia before leaving in his black Mercedes Benz.

After Pacquiao left, Gomez pushed Carcamo, who is wheelchair-bound, through the throng of fans that had also waited there to see the eight-division world champion.

Carcamo said he was a great fan of Pacquiao and was excited to meet him. He said he had seen Pacquiao a few times but this was the first time he got to shake hands with the Filipino boxing icon.

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