MANILA, Philippines – WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is coming close to peak form 10 days before he stakes his crown against unbeaten challenger Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 9 and trainer Freddie Roach?s assistant Marvin Somodio said yesterday he doesn?t expect the onset of cramps when the fight unfolds.
?Manny?s in excellent condition and he feels no pain whatsoever in his legs,? said Somodio who arrived in Los Angeles last Friday after obtaining his P1 professional worker?s visa from the US Embassy. ?Last Saturday, he went 10 rounds of sparring then last Tuesday, did eight rounds. He did very well, proof that he?s slowly getting to peak condition.?
Somodio, 28, said Pacquiao?s surviving sparmates are Russians Ruslan Provodnikov and Evgeny Chuprakov and American Kevin Hopkins. Provodnikov, 28, has sparred with Pacquiao since the start of boot camp in Baguio City and has a 21-1 record, with 14 KOs. Chuprakov, 22, has a 3-0 record, with 2 KOs. Dismissed from his pool of sparmates were Roger (Speedy) Gonzalez and Rustam Nugaev.
Bradley, 28, is training under former lightweight contender Joel Diaz and his father Timothy Sr. His primary sparmates are southpaws Luis Ramos Jr. and Marvin Quintero, both lightweights. Ramos, 24, has a 20-0 record, with 9 KOs, and has beaten two former Pacquiao sparmates Raymund Beltran and David Rodela. Quintero has won his last five fights by knockout, including a ninth round disposal of Filipino Al Sabaupan in Mexico last April. Quintero?s record is 25-3, with 21 KOs.
Pacquiao turned pro nine years before Bradley and has figured in 31 more fights. His knockout rate is 70 percent compared to Bradley?s 43 percent. Bradley, 28, is five years younger than Pacquiao. What could work to Bradley?s disadvantage is his apparent lack of power as he has stopped only 40-year-old Joel Casamayor, who was later found to be on drugs, in recording only one knockout in his last 10 outings. Weight is another issue as Bradley is moving up from the lightwelterweight class and has tipped the scales at 140 pounds or less in eight of his last nine bouts, meaning he may not be used to the extra bulk which could slow him down. Against a stronger and speedier Pacquiao, Bradley is a 3-1 underdog.
Somodio said strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza puts Pacquiao on a treadmill before sparring to eliminate the incidence of cramps. ?The way Manny looks, I don?t think he?ll get cramps in the fight against Bradley,? said Somodio. ?I hope he?s rid of cramps forever.? Cramps hobbled Pacquiao in his last two bouts against Sugar Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Somodio said he assists Roach and Ariza whenever they need him to do something at the Wild Card Gym. A fighter whom Roach has assigned Somodio to look after in the gym is Liverpool 21-year-old superwelterweight Liam Vaughan whose record is 4-1.
Somodio?s day begins at 6 in the morning when he joins Pacquiao for his sprints at Griffith Park then he checks in at the Wild Card Gym about 10 a.m. for training chores. He waits in the gym for Pacquiao who works out early afternoon.
?I?m happy that I?m finally at Wild Card,? said Somodio who was introduced to Pacquiao and Roach in 2009 while in the training staff of the Shape-Up Gym in the Cooyesan Plaza Hotel in Baguio City. ?It?s a different feeling because the people are different but I?m not worried about getting adjusted because I know Freddie has confidence in me. I?m excited to go to Las Vegas. It?s my first time to go to Las Vegas so I still don?t know what to expect.?
Somodio said arriving in the US to work in Pacquiao?s camp is a dream come true. ?To all Filipinos who are aspiring to become a boxing trainer, my advice is to love what you?re doing, to work hard and to know how to get along with others,? he said. ?But most of all, believe in yourself and never forget the Lord.?
A former ABAP pool talent, Somodio won the gold medal in the pinweight division and earned Best Boxer honors at the Olympic Festival in Lanao del Norte in 2006. Two years later, he left the ABAP camp and became a full-time trainer with Anson Tiu Co?s stable at the Shape-Up Gym. He temporarily stopped his schooling for a civil engineering degree at the University of Baguio to concentrate on mastering his craft as a boxing trainer and conditioning coach.
