Manny Pacquiao insists he won’t allow himself to be distracted by issues back home when he shows up at the doorsteps of the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood starting Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
“Sanay ako dyan (I am used to it),” Pacquiao told Daily Tribune yesterday afternoon while waiting for boarding at Ninoy Aquino International after the plane he was on had to turn back owing to a medical emergency involving one of the 180-plus passengers on board.
The Philippine Airlines jet bound for Los Angeles had already flown over Japan when it was decided that it had to make an emergency landing at Haneda Airport in Tokyo when one of the passengers fell ill.
The plane stayed in Japan for three hours before being given the go-signal to head back to Manila to change the flight crew.
Joining Pacquiao in the trip is aide Choy Garcia, assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez and Nonoy Neri and a support crew made up of Roger Fernandez, Jonathan Peñalosa, Jeremiah Quijano and Michel Kakilala.
They were supposed to land early Saturday night at LAX where MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbons was scheduled to welcome the team.
Instead, Team Pacquiao will touch down in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon to kick off the most crucial stage of the buildup for the 21 August showdown with Errol Spence at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Before relocating to America, Pacquiao, 42, underwent training in Manila and General Santos City where he began the sparring stage of the preparations.
The Spence clash will be Pacquiao’s first fight in over two years since the last time he was in the ring was in July 2019 against Keih Thurman.
Pacquiao’s duel with Spence, the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation welter king, will be his 30th bout on US shores.
