Pacquiao ‘in great shape,’ reaches training summit

FILE — Manny Pacquiao shows some of his moves to the media inside the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California, April 15, 2015.

HOLLYWOOD—Manny Pacquiao put on a show as he reached the pinnacle of his training for his third showdown with Timothy Bradley here Thursday (Friday in Manila).

The eight-division world champion breezed through 12 rounds of sparring, even bloodying the nose of American Lydell Rhodes as he bared his readiness to tangle with Bradley on April 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao’s virtuoso performance against Ghislain Maduma, for seven rounds, and against Rhodes, for five rounds, at Wild Card Gym earned him accolades from chief trainer Freddie Roach.

“It was pretty easy,” Roach said. “He’s in great shape so there were no problems whatsoever.”

Roach was so satisfied with Pacquiao’s performance that he found no need to need to call in additional sparring partners.

Manny Pacquiao gets a helping hand from strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune after his training Thursday at Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Photo by Roy Luarca

“They (Maduma and Rhodes) are enough to provide Manny with what to expect from Bradley” said Rhodes. “We’ll start tapering down.”

According to Roach, a seven-time trainer of the year, Rhodes resembled Bradley’s style more closely while Maduma was more aggressive.

Pacquiao will spar for eight rounds on Saturday, six rounds on Tuesday and then four each next Thursday and Thursday as the reigning Fighter of the Decade gradually winds up his eight-week training camp for Bradley that started in General Santos City.

Assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez echoed Roach statements, saying that Pacquiao is in great shape after almost 100 rounds of sparring with Maduma and Rhodes, who resembled Bradley’s fighting style “90 percent.”

Pacquiao will again do an uphill run at Griffith Park Friday to further enhance his speed and stamina.

Apart from Roach and Fernandez, also present at the closed door session were strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, assistant trainers Nonoy Neri and Roger Fernandez, and Mike Koncz, Pacquiao’s adviser.

Neri, who doubles as Pacquiao’s personal cook during training abroad, said Pacquiao tagged Rhodes with a left straight to the nose that caused it to bleed.