Manny Pacquiao typically is in a very good mood. He’s always upbeat and often wears a large grin.
But Pacquiao seemed a bit distant Wednesday as he was about to be interviewed in a narrow dressing room inside his trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
As Pacquiao and reporters began to sweat inside the stifling 6- by 12-foot hot box, he was asked to respond to Roach’s claim that he wasn’t as focused as he should have been at his training camp in the Philippines.
“I’m still focused in the Philippines, but I have some things, though, in the Philippines,” said Pacquiao, who arrived in Los Angeles last Saturday to finish preparation for his Nov. 13 junior middleweight title fight against Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium (on HBO pay-per-view).
Pacquiao was asked if, by “things,” he meant his job as a congressman in his native Philippines was distracting him.
“Besides politics,” he said.
Queried as to whether he would like to elaborate, Pacquiao had one word: “No.”
Roach said there always have been distractions that have challenged Pacquiao’s focus. But he admitted he was particularly concerned about some of Pacquiao’s sparring sessions in the Philippines, where Pacquiao began his training.
