MANNY PACQUIAO will definitely start intensive training in the United States for his July 2 fight against Mexican Oscar Larios before tapering off the last two weeks in Baguio City, both the boxer’s co-manager and trainer said on Friday.
At a well-attended press briefing at the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City to drum up the “Mano a Mano” card at the Araneta Coliseum, Ni?cholas Khan, the co-manager, said Pacquiao would leave for Los Angeles on May 13 and train at the city’s Wild Card gym of American trainer Freddie Roach until June 12.
“He will watch the June 10 fight of his brother Bobby, then return with Freddie to the Philippines on June 12,” Kahn said.
“We will be back in the Philippines in the last two weeks before the fight. As I said, we won’t take it easy against Oscar,” said Roach, whose other fighters such as Wayne McCullough and Willie Jorrin have lost to the Mexican slugger.
There were earlier reports that “PacMan” would rather stay in the country and prepare exclusively for the fight in Baguio City after a brief stint in the United States and Mexico to drum up the card with Larios.
But Kahn said he and Roach had a “heart-to-heart” talk with Pacquiao Thursday night shortly after they arrived to convince the Filipino fighter that it would be in his best interest to begin his workouts in the States.
“It’s OK to do endorsements here and there when there’s no fight. But it’s fight time. There are many things that is keeping Manny busy here,” Kahn said.
“We made Manny understand that his success outside the ring comes from his success inside the ring. If he loses, everything else goes,” Khan said.
Asked if Pacquiao was spreading himself too thinly by accepting endorsements left in right in the Philippines, Khan replied: “Exactly.”
“OK lang [It’s OK],” Pacquiao lamely said on the prospect of doing his preparations at Roach’s Wild Card gym.
The 5-foot-8 Larios, who arrived with his manager Rafael Mendoza and trainer Edison Reynoso Thursday morning, promised to be in the best shape of his life when he faces the Filipino ring idol.
“I am faster and stronger than Pacquiao,” Larios, the former World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion, said through an interpreter.
Mendoza, who regards the late Filipino international matchmaker Lope “Papa” Sarreal as his mentor, said: “We would like to welcome this opportunity that Pacquiao and his managers gave us. We will be back in July.”
When it was pointed out that the Filipino prize fighter had already beaten Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, two great Mexican boxers in their own right, Mendoza replied: “Larios is better than either Barrera or Morales.”
Not wanting on hype, Mendoza added that “Larios will be coming out of his corner throwing punches like a machine gun. He is willing to lay his life on the line inside the ring against Pacquiao.”
With the fight set at 130 pounds, the fighter’s manager said Larios would be fighting at his “true weight. He will no longer have to undergo a killing diet. The added pounds will add power to his punches.”
Two years older and two inches taller than Pacquiao, Larios has had a total of 61 fights, won 56 of them (36 by knockouts) lost four and drawn once.
He latest defeat was on March 12, 2005, when he lost his WBC super bantamweight crown to compatriot Israel Vasquez, who won with a third round technical knockout at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Describing his ward as “the greatest fighter in the world today,” Roach said Pacquiao had both the speed and the power to stop Larios.
“Our plan is to wear Larios’ body down and take him out within eight rounds,” Roach said.
Pacquiao himself declined to predict when the fight would end, except to say “all I can promise is a good fight.”
