LAS VEGAS ? Looking trim and fit and not flabby as one would expect from somebody who hasn?t been in the ring the last five months, Shane Mosley is raring to report for training camp to kick off preparations for the biggest fight of his life.
During the break of a photo session with Manny Pacquiao, Mosley told a pair of Manila-based scribes Friday that all is set for his training in Big Bear, California, on March 7, exactly two months before he and Pacquiao take the spotlight before an expected capacity crowd of 16,000 at the MGM Grand.
?I usually do eight weeks (of training for a fight),? Mosley said just before he took a commercial flight that brought him over here for the second leg of a cross-country, four-city press tour aimed at drumming up the May 7 welterweight clash. And once Mosley shows up for training, there won?t be a feeling-out phase as the California-bred puncher remains in terrific shape.
?I am not the type who gets really bloated after a fight and takes a few weeks to get back in shape,? said the 39-year-old three-division champion of the world.
?Even if I wasn?t boxing, I am a healthy person. I work out and I am an active person. I play basketball,? said Mosley, revealing that he currently weighs 160 lbs, just 13 lbs off the welterweight limit.
Mosley arrived here early Friday night joined by key members of his entourage, minus chief trainer Naazim Richardson, who is on assignment in Europe.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, was originally scheduled to take a private plane in Los Angeles but later decided to just stay and let Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and a few others to leave as Pacquao could not leave his wife Jinkee behind as she was in the thick of a TV interview.
Mike Koncz, the fighter?s adviser, said they will instead make the 300-mile road trip by midnight, in time for a press conference scheduled at 3 p.m.
From here, Pacquiao will proceed to New York for another media gig on Valentine?s Day, followed by the last stop in Washington on Tuesday.
Publicist Fred Sternburg, working for the nth time for Top Rank and Pacquiao, said the Hay-Adams Hotel will be the official residence during the whirlwind stay in the Nation?s Capital.
?It is the hotel that incoming US Presidents stay in (before assuming office at the White House),? said Strenburg.
The Hay-Adams Hotel, described as ?exceptionally elegant,? is overlooking the White House and a major DC landmark that is ?as close as anyone can get to staying at the White House, short of being invited by the President.?
