No PBA stint as Pacquiao keeps focus on third bout vs Bradley

Manny Pacquiao listens during a news conference to promote an upcoming boxing match Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in New York. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Timothy Bradley on April 9, 2016, in Las Vegas. AP

VANCOUVER—Manny Pacquiao will focus on his preparations for Timothy Bradley starting next week. There will be no pro basketball for him until after Pacquiao-Bradley III on April 9 in Las Vegas.

Instead, he will step up his physical conditioning to be ready for gym work and actual training camp early February.

“I won’t be playing [in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup which starts Feb. 10] until after the fight,” Pacquiao told Filipino sportswriters Thursday afternoon.

Having done his part in drumming up interest  for their World Boxing Organization welterweight crown showdown at the MGM Grand, Pacquiao and his entourage left Le Parker Meridien Hotel on West 56th Street in New York City on a chilly (-4 degrees centigrade) Friday morning and will arrive in the Philippines late Saturday.

Their PAL 127 flight took a stop here before proceeding to Manila, where he and wife Jinkee will take a connecting flight to General Santos City Sunday morning.

There, Pacquiao will continue jogging and exercising to whip himself into shape under the supervision of assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez.

Chief trainer Freddie Roach will follow on either Feb. 13 or Feb. 14 to supervise training camp which will culminate at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.

Roach is optimistic that Pacquiao, after being informed that his right shoulder has fully healed, will

be at his best and will beat Bradley in his farewell fight.

During the two-city press tour that kicked off at Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Pacquiao reiterated that his third bout against Bradley will be his last before hanging up his gloves to concentrate on his political career.

It was an exhausting grind, particularly on Thursday, where Pacquiao started with television and radio interviews at 9 p.m. and finished all his commitments past 3 a.m.

Still, he was in high spirits at his 38th floor suite, listening to the Godfather theme song while having a late lunch of steak and white rice.