Manny Pacquiao shows off his abdominal muscle after training inside the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, California on Saturday afternoon. Pacquiao and Bradley will be fighting for the third time on April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA
HOLLYWOOD — With exactly a week to go before fight night, Freddie Roach is ready to tune down Manny Pacquiao’s training even as the boxer’s camp declared the Filipino ring icon “100 percent” ready to fight Timothy Bradley Jr.
The atmosphere at the Pacquiao camp has lightened up considerably with Roach opening the doors of the Wild Card gym on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) so journalists could watch a sparring session for the first time.
“He’s 100 percent ready to go,” Roach, the Hall-of-Fame trainer, told reporters after the post-lunch workout.
Pacquiao had been sparring behind closed doors for most of the camp in preparation for his third bout with Bradley, scheduled on April 9 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with assessments on his preparedness coming mostly from Roach and his assistant trainers.
On Saturday, Pacquiao validated the mostly glowing assessment of his readiness, zipping through a pair of sparring sessions where he provided a glimpse of that uncanny mix of speed and power. Whether he can provide it in heavy doses on fight night remains to be seen, but the think-tank at the opposite corner of the welterweight duel is not taking any chances.
“I think [he is] going to be the same physical talent we’ve always seen— very explosive, the same combination of speed and power,” Bradley’s trainer Teddy Atlas told the LA Times. “He’s an uncommon athlete. Speed and power is very rare. That’s still going to be there. And he’s a lefty. He’s not diminished, not used up, not a shot fighter.”
That Pacquiao managed to show off that lethal mix in snippets—he uncorked a four-punch combo against Ghislain Maduma to remind everyone of his ability to cook up flurries on the fly—has at least dispelled concerns over his repaired shoulder.
“That’s no longer a concern,” Roach assured reporters.
The injury to the right shoulder had been blamed for Pacquiao’s loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.
So close is Pacquiao to hitting peak fight-night form that Roach envisions a relatively tame schedule once Team Pacquiao hits Las Vegas on Monday.
Roach has scheduled light runs and workouts for Pacquiao on Tuesday and Wednesday and wants him to take two days off before fight night.
Assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez said they are in the phase of making sure that Bradley won’t catch Pacquiao unawares with a shot.
“We’re focusing on Bradley’s shots he might use to surprise us,” Fernandez told the Inquirer after the boxer’s early-morning workout at Pan Pacific Park.
Pacquiao expects Bradley to engage more with Atlas now at the American’s corner. Atlas also whipped Bradley into shape when the latter scored a ninth-round knockout of Brandon Rios.
“The fight will have more action because [Bradley] has a new trainer,” Pacquiao said. “I’m sure he’s not going to run much. He’s going to keep coming in.”
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