MANNY PACQUIAO isn?t a man of persistence for no reason as he revs up his training in Los Angeles even during the holidays.
The fighting senator lived up to expectations of grinding out even as everyone else celebrates when he punished three sparring mates a few days before New Year.
Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion, prepares for his January 19 defense of his World Boxing Association welterweight belt against American challenger Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The 40-year-old Filipino pride took one month of his training to General Santos CIty and Manila before flying to Hollywood for the final stretch of preparations at the famed Wild Card Gym and tagged along his former coach, Freddie Roach, who is now a consultant.
?Good to be back in Los Angeles,? Pacquiao said upon his anticipated return to the boxing gym where he built his name.
Over the weekend, the Filipino completed 10 rounds of combined sparring against Arnold Gonzales, Lydell Rhodes and George Kambosos Jr.
Pacquiao impressed both Roach and now his lead coach and longtime friend Buboy Fernandez and left Gonzales with a bloodied nose after three rounds inside the ring.
It will be his first title defense after winning the belt over Argentine boxer Lucas Matthysse via a seventh-round technical knockout last July in Kuala Lumpur.
That victory marked the first time Pacquiao finished a bout via the short route after stopping Miguel Cotto in 2009.
He will be up against Broner, who is 11 years younger. But the future Hall of Fame boxer has all the advantage in experience with a record of 60 wins, seven losses and two draws.
The American owns a 33-3-1 record.
