LOS ANGELES, CA — All soaked in sweat while doing the jump rope, Manny Pacquiao didn’t have any inkling that the six-foot “oldie” beside him was a great world champion. Later, he joked with him atop the ring playing “tag” in a troika with strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune in the final shadow box.
Upon learning that he was in the midst of greatness, rubbing elbows with Virgil “Quicksilver” Hill, a four-time world champion in the light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, Pacquiao went to trainer Freddie Roach, saying half-jokingly and in his usual childish manner, “By July 31st, I will be a four-time world champion. I want to be like him.”
Pacquiao was looking ahead and was referring to a July 31, 2004 date with new WBC super-featherweight king Erik “El Terrible” Morales but Roach quickly admonished his ward to focus first on his May 8 bout with WBA and IBF champion Juan Manuel Marquez before thinking of anything and any other fight.
