Las Vegas, NV ? Manny Pacquiao?s last two outings failed to impress the many that have followed his meteoric rise in the sport. He failed to stop the aging Shane Mosley last May and his win over Juan Manuel Marquez was controversial to say the least. They attributed his state of mind on Fight Night as the cause of his unexceptional showing last November against Marquez but they also found a similar problem which it shared with the Mosley fight.
One common factor that was blamed by his team was the leg cramps that bothered the defending WBO welterweight champion in the course of both fights. Both Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach have made it a priority to solve the ailment that has hampered the boxer of late. And this time, his strength and conditioning coach believes that it won?t happen again when he faces challenger Timothy Bradley this Saturday at the ?Oasis of Boxing? of the MGM Grand.
?We got through the whole camp without him having any leg issues. We focused on exercises to address it," stated the champ?s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza. He is confident that the leg cramps that Pacquiao suffered in his two bouts last year will not occur this Saturday against Bradley.
?I am pretty confident (that they won?t come back),? was Ariza?s reply when I asked him about those cramps not becoming an issue on this fight. ?I have targeted every muscle on those legs now to develop their conditioning. He sparred 10 rounds, 12 rounds on several different occasions and we haven?t had any problems with the leg tightening up,? Ariza said. ?As far as the cramp would go, if would be something out of the extra ordinary,? he added.
Ariza stated that Pacquiao is ?ready to roll? Saturday night and they have achieved their goals in camp as far as strength and conditioning is concerned, and that includes those pesky leg cramps.
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