Roach’s bonus still up for grabs

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—The several times Glenn Tapia and Michael Medina have tried to knock down pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao for the one-thousand-dollar incentive during sparring sessions also represents the number of times they have failed.   “I’ve been trying,” admitted Medina.   Trainer Freddie Roach has always dangled a lucrative $1,000 (roughly P47,000) bonus to sparring partners who can knock out Pacquiao in training sessions.   With the Pacman’s career in its latter stages, Roach still has the tidy sum in his possession.   “It’s not that easy but definitely I want to keep trying and if I can get that thousand dollars it’s going to be great for me,” said Medina. “I need that money.”   Tapia has heard about the bonus and jokes about the motivation he gets from outside the gym.   “Everybody talks to me about that,” Tapia said.   “Don’t you Filipinos love Manny Pacquiao? You all want me to knock him down,” joked Tapia during Pacquiao’s media day workout at the Shape-up gym here.   Actually, we just want to find out if the $1,000 will ever be claimed.   Tapia, however, isn’t merely keen on the prize. He’s in this to help Pacquiao prepare for his bout against Antonio margarito on Nov. 13 for the vacant WBC super welterweight crown.   “I’m here to do all the hard work for the fight to be easy for him,” Tapia continued.   And where the controversies surrounding Pacquiao’s training are concerned, both Mexican fighters see no worries for the Pacman in the bout at  Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.   “His conditioning, stamina and speed are great; he’s a very complete fighter,” marveled Medina, who also said he enjoyed eating Filipino delicacies and dishes such as “balut,”  adobo and kare-kare.   “I think he’s doing very well and he’s work ethic is just unbelievable,” he added.   And though Pacquiao is tagged as a 6-to-1 favorite against the heavy-handed Margarito, both sparmates know that it’s going to be a tough battle for the boxing icon, who is gunning for an unprecedented eighth weight division crown.   “It will be a tough fight, if he’s (Pacquiao)  going to win or knock out Margarito, it’s gonna be in the later rounds,” said the 24-year-old Medina, who totes an impressive 22-win, 2-loss card spiked with 19 knockouts.   “Manny is going to go hard on him, he’ll knock him out but it still going to be a tough one,” Tapia added.   And as much as Tapia and Medina try their best, the feat of being the first sparmate to put down the pound-for-pound king remains unconquered. Photo by Celest Flores