Pacquiao leaves Baguio amid ‘Ramil’ threat

(Update) Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao packed up his training camp in Baguio City Monday morning to spend the remainder of his Philippine training in Manila. Upon arriving in the country's capital, the "PacMan" immediately had his first workout Monday at the gym of his good friend, two-division champion Gerry Peñalosa. Pacquiao was originally slated to train in Baguio until Oct. 23 yet before leaving for the US the following day. But according to trainer Freddie Roach, Team Pacquiao decided to leave the City of Pines sooner than expected in anticipation of the arrival of typhoon “Ramil" that is set to affect the country by Wednesday. “We’re leaving ahead of schedule. It’s better to be in Manila before the storm hits us," said trainer Roach explained Sunday night. Concerns were raised by fans of Pacquiao after typhoons “Ondoy" and “Pepeng" wrought havoc in Northern Luzon that made Baguio isolated for a few days. Pacquiao has been training in the City of Pines the last four weeks. But despite the bad weather, Roach said it never affected their preparation as only Pacquiao’s morning road work was scuttled for at least two days. In making up for lost time in their morning sprint, Pacquiao ran on a treadmill and even went swimming for 26 minutes in one instance during the storm’s onslaught. “We’re on target and Manny’s peaking on time. We may need to do minor adjustments but the bad weather has never been an issue before," said Roach. Pacquiao would spend one week of workout in Manila then he would resume his training at Roach’s Wild Card Gym for two weeks before tapering off the week of his upcoming fight in Las Vegas. Pacquiao, 30, is set to square off with defending welterweight champion Cotto in a 12-round title fight for the Puerto Rican’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) belt. Cotto agreed to stake his 147-lb crown at a catch weight of 145 lbs on November 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. - GMANews.TV