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ROACH RARING TO START PACQUIAO?S TRAINING CAMP By Eddie Alinea PhilBoxing.com Sat, 07 Apr 2012 World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach will finally meet today, four days after the Hall of Fame corner man set foot in Manila, to map out how their training camp will go. Where and when the meeting will be Roach wouldn?t say, except to tell this writer that he spoke with the 147-pound champ on the phone Thursday night with Pacquiao telling him they will see each other today. Pacquiao is currently with his family ? wife Jinkee and children ? in General Santos City where they spend the Holy Week. Unless plans have been altered, Pacquiao originally set April 16 as the day he will go to Baguio City to pitch camp at the Pines City, the place where his team conducted his initial preparations in his recent four fights because of the high-altitude training the country?s summer capital offers. Meanwhile, Roach and the team of Amir Khan, the former World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight titleholder, who arrived in Manila two weeks ago, will have to go to Baguio sometime next week. Khan and conditioning trainer Alex Ariza arrived together in preparation for his coming rematch with Lamont Peterson aimed at winning back the 140-pound plum the latter took from him last December. ?My wish is to get to Baguio as soon as possible, start preparing as soon as possible and get Manny in shape as soon as possible,? Roach told this writer Thursday after doing the mitts with Khan at the Planet Jupiter Gym in Makati City. ?I want Manny to win by a knockout and that?s what we will be preparing for. How to win by KO,? he said, obviously to erase the stigma of the eight-division champ?s close and unimpressive victory over arch-rival Juan Manuel Marquez in Act III of their trilogy last May. Asked if Pacquiao?s turning to be a preacher might lessen his killer?s instinct, Roach retorted: ?I don?t think so. Manny is a pro and he knows how to deal with his being a preacher and a boxer.? The trainer said he doesn?t see any problem getting Pacquiao into shape notwithstanding the four months of inactivity since his last fight. ?Manny, I?m sure, will be hungry to train, so his long inactivity won?t pose as a problem,? he said, adding he also sees very minor distractions unlike those in the previous training camp. ?That four-month outside of the ring is a blessing in disguise because he had a good rest.? ?Well, now that he is a self-proclaimed changed man, I see no more of the distractions that mark our previous preparations,? he said with a smile in his face. ?Except basketball, of course, because outside of boxing, that?s his world.? Roach also said that there will be no major changes in the training regimen as he will not be deviating from the ?winning formula? that spelled success before. ?It ain?t broken, so why fix it.? Roach said Bradley is a tough physical fighter who uses his elbows and head, but added he?ll prepare Pacquiao for that. Roach disclosed that he has a trio of young sparring partners resembling Bradley?s style and he will be bringing one of them,Russian Rusian Provodnikov, to Baguio as Pacquiao?s initial mates with the two others joining the team in Los Angeles. Provodnikov owns an impressive 21-0 record with 14 knockouts and only needs a call to go to Manila from his hometown in Beryozovo in Siberia. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea. |
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