LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao Thursday formally turned on the heat and declared that his raging rivalry with Mexican warrior Marco Antonio Barrera could be decided only in actual battle, not through useless chatter.
?Sa labanan lamang malalaman kung sino talaga ang magaling (The better fighter could only be decided inside the ring),? Pacquiao told a television interviewer over breakfast as he momentarily turned from puncher to philosopher.
The brief statement could have well tolled the countdown to Pacquiao?s Oct. 6 rematch with Barrera, as trainer Freddie Roach wasted no time to make corrective adjustments in defense during an afternoon punching drill.
Pacquiao resumes sparring Friday afternoon, after he had allowed himself to be tagged with right shots to the head in an eight-round workout against two Mexican fighters the other day.
His dare to settle everything inside the ring was so far the first uttering on the fight from Pacquiao, who has been training in relative silence, while the Barrera camp regularly issued statements from Guadalajara.
Pacquiao touched on various issues, including politics, during the unscheduled breakfast interview which will be aired over GMA 7 television.
Pacquiao, dusting off jet lag, had a morning nap before returning to the gym, where Roach imparted timely tips on defense, including moves to counter-act foul tactics.
Roach made sure there will be no repeat of the sub-par stance previously displayed by Pacquiao when the Filipino boxing hero resumes sparring Friday.
Roach had to ask Pacquiao to polish up on defense after the prized warrior got tagged with repeated rights to the head by his two sparmates.
?Yes, we did some defensive drills out there,? Roach told the Inquirer.
Pacquiao?s sparring on Friday is part of the remaining tapering off drills before his group heads for Las Vegas in a convoy Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, physical therapist Jeff Guzman said Pacquiao has visibly adapted to local time and weather after he managed to break into a sweat in less than 10 minutes, unlike last Tuesday when it took him at least 17 minutes to fully warm up.
De Guzman added that Roach visibly instilled in Pacquiao, a noted clean fighter, ways to offset elbows, headbutts, shoulder shoves and other foul tactics which he could encounter.
