Filipino icon and eight-division world champion Manny ?Pacman? Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) is in the final stages of camp and just a little over a week away from his rubber match against two-division world champion Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs). They will square off next Saturday April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas live on HBO PPV. We talked to Pacquiao Wednesday afternoon prior to his media day workout at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California.
?This fight is one of the most important fights of my life. There are a lot of reasons why. After this I go back to the Philippines to serve the people,? Pacquiao told Fightnews.com?. ?I have done everything I can for this training camp. This is going to be an exciting fight with more action in the ring.?
Pacquiao began his camp in the Philippines, then resumed his training at the Wild Card in early March with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and strength/conditioning coach Justin Fortune.
?I have been training hard in the Philippines and now in the Wild Card. Everything is good. I am very excited about this fight and I am ready for this fight,? Pacquiao said. ?My sparring partners have been very good. They?ve helped me a lot. Their style is similar to my opponent.?
?Camp has gone pretty well training for this fight,? Roach told Fightnews.com?. ?Sparring has been off but it came together the last few workouts. He looks ready now.?
Returning to the ring for the first time since his disappointing decision loss to the now retired Floyd Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao says that after surgery, there?s no remnants of the injury that hampered him in ?The Fight of the Century.?
?It has been almost one year that I have not fought,? Pacquiao said. ?My shoulder is good. My intensity and willingness is still there.?
Roach added, ?The eleven months off and comeback was harder this time, before it took a little. This time it takes a little more to get where we want to be.?
Now looms the rubber match with Bradley, who after replacing longtime trainer Joel Diaz with Teddy Atlas, scored a ninth round TKO over Brandon Rios ? who took Pacman the distance 24 months earlier.
Roach commented, ?I thought Manny won both fights. Bradley has got a new trainer and everyone is making a big deal about it?I think he (Atlas) is more of a cheerleader in the corner. We are not afraid of firemen. I know Teddy personally and had some altercations with him.?
Roach commented, ?I thought Manny won both fights. Bradley has got a new trainer and everyone is making a big deal about it?I think he (Atlas) is more of a cheerleader in the corner. We are not afraid of firemen. I know Teddy personally and had some altercations with him.?
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum stated ?I think for me you throw out the first two fights. You?ll see a Bradley who is so much better than he was the first two fights since he fought Manny?Atlas has him thinking and gotten into his head, Atlas is a great psychologist of the game. Manny will come in tough and ready as always.?
?I believe Bradley has improved,? said Pacquiao. ?I?m excited to see in the ring what he can bring with Teddy Atlas. We saw in the ring in the Rios fight?Bradley is more focused on the body now since our last fight, and we?ll create more action in the ring. The third fight is going to be the answer for all those questions about the two fights we have had.?
This has been one of the most complicated training camps of Pacquiao?s career. Not only is he campaigning for a seat in the Philippine Senate in May, his comments on gay people set off a firestorm that cost him sponsorships and even got him banned from a popular shopping mall.
?None of this distracts me,? stated Pacquiao. ?I was just telling the truth. I explained it properly, but the problem is that they cut the video and my whole interview. It?s about five to ten minutes and they cut it short. Just the politics. But who am I to condemn or discriminate against other people? I am also a human and sinner. What I am telling is the truth. What I am condemning is the act.?
Roach?s take on it? ?There is no drama and distractions. Nothing was ever spoken about it in the Philippines of what was said. If you listen to that entire video of the speech, he explains himself but if you listen to that one minute that everyone cuts it to, than you get a different perspective. Manny is a really good guy. He has over 200 gay people working for him. Manny is not prejudice against anybody.?
Arum said, ?Should the Grove had banned him? I would say probably not. Can they ban him? I?d rather have Manny and his legal team take this case. It?s a public facility.?
If this really is the end for Pacquiao as a boxer, he had a tremendous career piling up wins over future Hall of Famers like Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and Shane Mosley among others.
?When I look back at my accomplishments and what I have accomplished, I can never imagine that,? Pacquiao said. ?I want to be remembered not only as a good person in the ring but also outside the ring.?
?It?s been a real great story, a rags to riches story,? said Arum. ?About a kid in the streets of Philippines that lived in a cardboard shack and worked his way to the States and gets on the world stage and becomes one of the greatest fighters of our time.?
Manny plans to go out with a bang.
?What I have on my mind is to win convincingly and leave no doubt. If I have a chance to finish, why not? But I?m not making a prediction. I will do my best to make the people happy for this fight,? Pacquiao concluded.
