Many of us make New Year?s resolutions. Whether it’s to stop smoking, lose weight or start working out, we all have the best of intentions as the calendar turns. But unfortunately, by the end February we are back to our old ways. Manny Pacquiao, who faces Juan Manuel Marquez this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, laid out some goals for himself in 2008.
“New Year?s resolution was no gambling and no drinking and just focus on my studying and my boxing career,” he would tell Maxboxing last week.
As we head into the middle of March, so far so good?
“So far, so good, and I’m still hungry to win and I’m thinking I’m the Manny Pacquiao when I started,” he would say. “I started in boxing and I’m still hungry to win and to be a champion.”
Last year, as he ran for political office in his homeland and was going through a promotional tug-of-war that was waged between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, he seemed to just go through the motions of being a professional prizefighter as he faced the overmatched Jorge Solis and the faded Marco Antonio Barrera. But as he came to Hollywood a full eight weeks out to train for this fight, it signaled that the ‘Pac Man’ was getting back to the task at hand with full vigor.
“I was a little distracted in those matters,” he admitted, “but I won?t let that happen to me again in my boxing career because without boxing, Manny Pacquiao is never known.”
This upcoming year could be the biggest and most lucrative of his professional career.
“Right now, 2008, I’m very focused on my boxing career, not like the other year, like 60-percent in boxing, 40-percent to my school and doing other things,” he admits. “Right now, its 90-percent focused on my boxing career and that’s only why we train hard this time. We’re still hungry, like the Manny Pacquiao that was just starting.”
Both his promoter and trainer would begin to mold this mindset at the end of 2007, as they traveled to the Philippines to meet with Pacquiao.
“I told him it was a breakout year and that we had not done the right thing the year before,” said Bob Arum. “He was distracted with the election and then he trained for a week over here for the Barrera fight. And I had no opportunity to promote him and no opportunity for him to really train the way he should. Freddie Roach was on that page as well. It didn’t take a lot of arm-twisting. He’s an intelligent kid and he realized that was best for him.”
Arum liked what he saw last Wednesday, where he was in town to see Pacquiao at his media day at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
“I’ve been checking in on him periodically during this whole training camp and I’ve been amazed at his training regimen and I’m very, very pleased with his conditioning. I’ve never seen him in this kind of condition. I’ve never seen anything like this kid.”
Last year Pacquiao trained with Justin Fortune for his April assignment in San Antonio, Texas as Roach was with Oscar De La Hoya in Puerto Rico. And then for his October bout against Barrera, against the wishes of his trainer, he would spend the bulk of his time in the Philippines. You got the sense he didn’t feel threatened by either matchup. In essence, he was on a paid vacation.
“Pretty much,” Roach agreed. “He didn’t have any opponents that pushed him. So that’s why everything?s different for this one. He’s just much more focused and he knows we’re not on vacation for this one.”
As rumors swirled in December that Pacquiao would be moving up to face WBC lightweight champion David Diaz in his next bout, Roach was pushing behind the scenes for the rematch with Marquez. Usually, handlers go for the path of least resistance, not guys who came off the canvas thrice to nearly beat your guy several years ago.
“I thought it could motivate him and I think it’s definitely a fight that the fans want to see,” explained Roach of his reasoning. “There’s a controversial end in the first one, either way you look at it. Some people thought Marquez won, some thought Pacquiao won. But the thing is, it was just the natural match to me. It was a fight where we needed to clean the air for this one, to go on to bigger things.”
Pacquiao, for all the money he’s made as a junior lightweight, has never captured a major belt. But more than that, he can take care of some ‘Unfinished Business’ – which is what they have dubbed this promotion.
“That was a good fight, but I’m disappointed in that decision because I dropped him three times in the first round but the decision was still a draw,” said Pacquiao. “But that’s part of the game. I hope it won?t happen again.”
Roach would add, “I think he’s a little upset about the first call. He thought he won the fight and he knows he’s going to have to fight a much better fight to beat this guy this time. Obviously, it’s the toughest style for us to beat, a counterpuncher and it poses some problems for Manny’s style. But I think we got a handle on it now.”
After the first round blitzing, Marquez would gain control of the bout with his superior boxing skills. It was at that time that Roach knew that Pacquiao would have to become a fighter with more dimensions to him.
?He?s a much more complete fighter now,” the trainer states. “He thinks more, he sets up, he’s got a right hand now and a little better head movement. I’m not sure what Marquez has, if he’s better or worse. I know his style has changed a little bit. Is that because of the pounding Pacquiao put on him? Because he hasn’t been that great counterpuncher since the Pacquiao fight. He’s been coming to guys and so forth, and sometimes those legs, they come forward well, but it’s hard to go backwards and it’s hard for a counterpuncher to do that. I’m not so sure that’s by design to sell tickets, to be more marketable. Maybe it’s just age. But we’ll find out in the fight.”
Pacquiao believes that this time around he’s a much more complete boxer.
“I have made a lot of changes since four years ago since the first fight. I learned more experience in boxing and I think I’ve learned a lot in boxing: more strategy, more techniques. First, I learned more experience. It’s going to be a big difference from the first fight.”
But it’s clear, Marquez has gotten his attention.
“I haven’t seen Manny this motivated since the first time he fought Barrera,” stated Roach. “He was really, really hungry that fight, everything was going well. He trained so hard. This is the type of training camp we’ve had for this one. He’s just really, really focused. He’s trained hard, no basketball, no pool, nothing.”
The manner in which Pacquiao has prepared for this fight shows you the amount of respect he has for Marquez. Nearly four years later, they will attempt to break their deadlock.
“I’m pretty sure – although I don’t want to predict this fight – that it’s going to be a good fight because Marquez, he’ll do his best to win this fight and he trains hard,” said Pacquiao. “Both of us train hard and are trying to win for the honor of our country.
“May the best man win.”
PAC PLANS
So assuming he beats Marquez, how does the rest of 2008 look for Pacquiao?
“He’s fighting again in June, probably against David Diaz, and then I want him to fight twice more in the second part of the year,” said Arum, who had plans of putting a Pacquiao-Diaz bout in Macau. But he says now, “I think we’re going to switch to Vegas. The reason being I don’t have enough time with my other commitments to mount something. I need more time for Macau. I think maybe I’d be better off in the fall in Macau.”
As for who else Pacquiao could meet in 2008, Arum states, “The guy I like is De La Hoya. Larry Merchant raised that idea, the kid likes the idea, Oscar says after the Mayweather farce he wants to have one more fight. Who better than Manny Pacquiao?”
HEAVY BAG
Not many fighters make the good ol’ heavy-bag a regular part of their training regimen anymore, as most prefer the hand pads, but for this camp, Roach has implemented more heavy bag work into Pacquiao’s routine.
“He really, really, attacks the heavy bag and has great combinations. But I just want him to get him stronger and have more strength on the inside,” says Roach. “Everyone thinks the heavy bag is a thing of the past, but it’s still a great tool for strength and that’s what I use it for, for power and strength. And the way Manny works the bag, you don’t see too many people like that.”
His work on the heavy bag (which you can see on our feature video on ‘the Pac Man’) is about as impressive as you’ll ever see. It’s a mesmerizing blend of speed and power. Roach says he’s never seen any fighter attack the bag quite like he does.
“I think he’s mad at the bag sometimes because he tries to kill that bag. It’s just good work for him. We do a lot of mitts but every other day. I do mitts one day and then we incorporated the heavy bag this time to get more strength work out of the heavy bag.”
PAVLIK
So will middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik be taking on his WBO mandatory in Gary Lockett on June 7th at Madison Square Garden in New York?
?That?s the way it looks now, yes,” Arum would answer on Friday afternoon.
Pavlik’s manager, Cameron Dunkin, would say, “If it is Lockett, it’s terrific because of the Enzo Calzaghe thing (as Calzaghe trains Lockett). I think that’s terrific because that brings his son down the road with Kelly, which everybody is already talking about being a super fight. Joe Calzaghe already called out Kelly a couple of weeks ago and that he’d like to fight the winner of Pavlik-Taylor after the Hopkins fight.
“I think this introduces us to Europe, a lot. I think that’s good for Kelly Pavlik. If it is Lockett, I think it would be terrific.”
The plan is for Pavlik to then face Randy Griffin in September in Cleveland and then perhaps John Duddy in November. “Or Arthur Abraham, we’re talking with Arthur Abraham and if Kelly wants to complete his run at middleweight this year, then he would like to do it with fighting – next to him – the best middleweight in the world, which is Abraham. I can’t think of another one,” said Arum.
HEAVYWEIGHT HAYE-MAKER
I don’t know how his chin will hold up as a heavyweight, but I’m looking forward to seeing cruiserweight kingpin David Haye move up into the ‘sucky division’ – as he calls it – and breathe some new life into this moribund class. He’s a bright, fresh, new personality with an exciting style.
The heavyweight division needs several Haye-makers.
HUH?
Speaking of which, I could understand why Emanuel Steward was trying to play up a unification bout between his guy, Wladimir Klitschko, and Sam Peter, who won the WBC strap from Oleg Maskaev this past Saturday on HBO in Cancun, Mexico, but for Max Kellerman to decree that there was some ‘mandate’ for this fight to happen because Peter made a ‘statement’, it sounded like a corporate agenda.
The only statement made by Peter was that he isn’t very good, doesn’t have the requisite conditioning and is still rawer than sushi technically. He’s fortunate he fought a shot Oleg Maskaev, who never had much in the way of whiskers to begin with.
What Steward saw ringside was a much easier fight than the one they had back in 2005, which is understandable given his role. But the other guys?
FINAL FLURRIES
He talked the talk and he walked the walk – congrats to Nate Campbell, who’s had a long road and winding road to the lightweight championship….The ‘draw’ between Jason Gonzalez and Jason Lehoullier was a classic example of home cooking. Gonzalez won that one easily. What took place with the judging was unfair and despicable…..For all the talk of Derrick Rose and Ty Lawson, I think UCLA’s Darren Collison is every bit the point guard….I saw John Duddy’s bout against Walid Smichet this weekend. I thought Smichet won that fight by at least a few points. Duddy is the greatest Irish catcher since Jack O’Neill….Isaac Bruce, the last Los Angeles Ram, is now a 49er. I can’t believe it….For the record, I was a Rams fan till they moved to St. Louis. Once they did, they were dead to me….The KO by Jerry Belmonte on Angel Rosada (which was shown on tape on this week?s Telefutura show) was as vicious as any you’ll see this year….I didn’t mention this before, but best wishes in the recovery of John Wooden, who is truly an American treasure. Remember coach, be quick, but don’t be in a hurry…..
