Pacquiao slowly getting back to fighting form

Manny Pacquiao assured everyone else including his trainer Freddie Roach, that he is slowly getting back in shape and expects to be 100 percent ready by the time he climbs the ring and faces World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. “Ok `yung kondisyon ko ngayon. Malayo pa ang laban, still six weeks to go, pero maganda na `yung pakiramdam ko," said Pacquiao to a bunch of Manila-based sportswriters who visited him during the three-hour, closed door workout he had Friday at the Shape-Up gym inside the Cooyesan Hotel in Baguio City. His declaration came a day after Roach proclaimed that the 30-year old boxing champion is still 40 percent fit as far as his conditioning for the Nov. 14 showdown with Cotto is concerned.

While he’s not about to dispute the assessment of his long-time trainer, Pacquiao stressed that more rounds of workout and sparring eventually, would help him get back to his old rhythm. “Maganda naman kasi nakaka-recover na ako kaagad," said the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world. “Yan naman ang maganda pag nag-training na ako, mabilis akong nakaka-recover." To stress his point, Pacquiao was scheduled to go 13 rounds with Roach in the mitts Friday, but shortly after, requested conditioning coach Alex Ariza for `one more round." “He doesn’t want to stop," Ariza said afterwards. “He was better (Thursday), but that was with the mitts," said Roach. The job was still to bring what he does to the mitts to fight night." Later, he did his usual routine at the double end and speedball, then worked on the skip ropes and had his regular stretching before calling it a day. Earlier, Pacquiao hit the road at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) grounds, where he jogged alongside some of the Filipino cadets, had breakfast with them, and of course, did some photo ops. Roach said the cadets failed to keep up with Pacquiao but stressed that the incident is nothing unusual since the PMA cadeTs are not professional athletes. Pacquiao also downplayed the matter, saying, “may mga nakasabay rin naman." Only two weeks in training camp at the country’s summer capital, Pacquiao is already looking forward to making it a part of his training for future fights. “Maganda rito. Mapuwersa ka kasi mataas ito (1,500 meter above sea level). Mag-improve talaga `yung stamina mo." Roach has no problem with that, except for one. “No more fun games," said the three-time Trainer of the Year, referring to the basketball games Pacquiao played with some of his friends Wednesday shortly after training. That resulted in Pacquiao failing to do his morning jog the following day. “He can’t play basketball, running and training all at the same time. And he’s gonna miss more days of running because of basketball," said Roach. “Training for a fight is hard work. We’re getting ready for a fight, and at this stage, there should be no distraction. It should not happen again." – GMANews.TV