Pacman does road work, skips training

MANILA, Philippines—After a morning jog, Manny Pacquiao abandoned the rest of his training schedule Thursday at the Johnny Elorde gym in Quezon City, with nobody in his camp knowing why he took the day off.   Pacquiao, who looked good in his workouts on Monday and Tuesday, jogged in the morning then attended the congressional session in the afternoon where he told his chief-of-staff lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal that he may train in the evening at his gym on Paquita Street in Sampaloc, Manila.   Pacquiao had purchased what was once known as the L&M Gym where his fledgling boxing career began in earnest when he was a teenager and constructed a brand new seven-storey building named MP Towers on the site.   He didn’t show up in the evening either.   Conditioning trainer Alex Ariza, who arrived on Monday, said there was no need at this time to put any pressure on Pacquiao to push himself in training for his showdown with Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Texas.   Longtime boxing man and TV analyst Moy Lainez said Pacquiao “doesn’t need to train hard as yet as long as he does his jogging every morning to strengthen his physical condition.”   Both Ariza and Lainez believe that once his training camp officially opens next Monday,  Pacquiao would be training relentlessly as usual.   Pacquiao is scheduled to leave for GenSan today  then return  to resume training the next day. Celebrated trainer Freddie Roach is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.   With Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pulling out of his trip to the Philippines with his Dec. 4 clash with WBO light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto unlikely to push through, Roach will depend on the regular Pacquiao sparring partners for ringwork.   The sparmates are  29-year-old Rashad Holloway (11-1-2, 5 KOs),  who is  a solid welterweight prospect, unbeaten junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan, 24, who is 24 and stands 6 feet tall and promising Glen Tapia (7-0, 5 KOs), 20-year-old prospect out of New Jersey.