Pacquiao resumes sparring sessions Thursday

Manny Pacquiao. FILE PHOTO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Manny Pacquiao took a break from training yesterday, but sparring will continue today at his Wild Card Gym here.

Bothered by body pains that normally follow a boxer’s first sparring session, Pacquiao did not run in the morning and asked chief trainer Freddie Roach’s consent not to do gym work in the afternoon.

Pacquiao traded punches with Canada-based Congolese Ghislain Muduna for four rounds Tuesday afternoon to shake off the rust of a nine-month absence from the ring.

The eight-division world champion did well, though it was evident that his timing was still wanting.

He was scheduled for high-terrain running in the morning, but assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez postponed it to give Pacquiao’s body time to recover.

Fernandez said it’s normal to have some pain after the first day of sparring while Roach said it’s a good thing that this happened early in training.

They were relieved, however, that Pacquiao’s right shoulder, which underwent arthroscopic surgery on May 6, 2015, did not hurt.