One hundred and twenty rounds.
That?s the target number of sparring rounds Manny Pacquiao wants to achieve in preparing for his much-awaited rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico.
“100 rounds will be enough, no, make it 120 (rounds),” Pacquiao said yesterday after Monday?s workout at the Wild Card Boxing Club supervised as usual by Freddie Roach.
Aside from the actual sparring, Pacquiao also sweats it out hitting the heavy bag, speed ball, double-end bag and punch mitts, skipping rope, shadowboxing and morning roadwork that has recently been moved to 7 a.m. from the original schedule of 5 a.m.
“It?s really cold out here nowadays and I have been forced to adjust my roadwork. I begin jogging when the sun is already up,” added Pacquiao, smiling.
Still, Pacquiao is a stickler for hard work and by the time he motors to Las Vegas a week before the scheduled 12-rounder at the Mandalay Bay, he believes he could rack up some 120 rounds of sparring from several guys Roach tapped to help in training camp.
“Hopefully, everything?s going to turn out well in the remainder of my training,” added Pacquiao, who is already booked to see action in late-June and in November in the event he gets past Marquez.
In Pacquiao?s first sparring that lasted four rounds last Saturday, Roach was all smiles afterwards.
“He looked very good especially that it was just his first sparring,” said Roach also yesterday while winding up in his training duties at the Wild Card on Vine Street in Hollywood.
Roach said Pacquiao, 29, has shook off the cold virus that the fighter contracted last week and appears to be on his way to a fantastic finish.
“I have got no worries,” said Roach, who turns 48 on March 5. “Manny?s doing great in training and we are going to do everything we could together to get him in great shape because this is not going to be an easy fight.”
Roach said Juan Garcia, an undefeated 130-pounder from Phoenix, will report for sparring on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila).
“This guy Garcia fights like Marquez,” said Roach, who also gets help in sparring from unbeaten super-lightweight Dean Byrne from Ireland and Adrian Gallon Jr.
Racking up as much as 120 rounds is not new for someone like Pacquiao, who had gone beyond that number a few times before against a top-of-the-line rival like Erik Morales.
Meanwhile, Marquez, who will be staking his World Boxing Council (WBC) super-featherweight crown, is also stepping up in his own training in Mexico City in anticipation of a rugged encounter with Pacquiao.
Expected to show up at the Romanza Gym is Norio Kimura, the Japanese super-lightweight champion, who is flying in from Tokyo.
Kimura, rated No. 7 by the WBC in the 140-lb ranks is a southpaw and he used to spar with Morales.
Marquez, 34, works out in Mexico City during weekends and goes high-altitude training during weekends in Nevado De Toluca.
