For whatever reason, Manny Pacquiao has reportedly decided to fly back to Manila barely three days after he arrived in Los Angeles and reported for training for his Oct. 6 rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera.
There was no actual confirmation that Pacquiao will be back in Manila this morning although the latest word his adviser Wakee Salud got from LA was that he took off on a PAL flight Friday evening.
Pacquiao was reportedly joined in the trip by his trainer Buboy Fernandez.
Salud couldn?t give any reason why Pacquiao has cut his training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, although he said the boxer already had previous plans of training in Cebu.
?I don?t know why he suddenly decided to return to Manila,? said Salud, adding that Pacquiao?s latest caper can only fuel a lot of speculations on why the boxer had to fly home in a hurry.
According to a previous plan, Salud said Pacquiao wanted to spend the first half of his training in Cebu, and fly to Los Angeles on Sept. 1 for a four-week grind heading to the fight.
Under this set-up, then Freddie Roach has to fly to Cebu, the way he did last year when Pacquiao trained six weeks in Manila for his fight against Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum.
Pacquiao?s chief of staff, Jake Joson, could not confirm whether Pacquiao did take the PAL flight out of LA Friday evening.
?I have no official word on this. I?m not sure what his reasons are. I guess we all have to wait,? said Joson.
?But if he returns, then he?s got to train here. My only concern is the quality of sparring partners he can get here. The training regimen is all and the same. It?s the quality of sparring that should be considered.?
Joson said Pacquiao can bring in his favorite sparring partners from Los Angeles, but this will only mean added expenses.
?And besides, instead of just sparring thrice a week, he may be forced to spar more because these foreign sparring partners will have to be paid on a daily basis,? he added.
