FILIPINO superstar Manny Pacquiao has reached the crescendo in his preparations in the United States and has declared himself in tremendous shape for his July 2 clash with Mexican Oscar “Chololo” Larios at the Araneta Coliseum.
Pacquiao sparred for 12 rounds against much bigger foes at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles yesterday and his handlers led by esteemed trainer Freddie Roach, believes that the fight will not last the distance.
“His (Pacquiao’s) moves are now visibly sharp,” said Filipino trainer Buboy Fernandez in an interview from LA. “He’s ready for the fight, even if it goes into deep waters.”
Pacquiao downplayed comparisons between his sparmates and that of Larios in Japan, who includes WBC bantam champ Hozumi Hasegawa and world-ranked Toshiaki Nishioka.
’I know that his sparmates are also good, but look, I’m sparring against much bigger boys who are welterweights, junior welterweights and lightweight,” Pacquiao said. “His sparmates are only bantam Print this story Send this story Write the editor Reprint this article View other stories
and superbantamweights.”
The Filipino boxing icon, Fernandez said, has also shown tremendous stamina in road works in Los Angeles, recently conquering a “killer run” which Fernandez describes as a very long uphill distance.
Roach, as well as conditioning coach Justin Fortune, also stressed in an interview with ABS-CBN that Pacquiao has the tools to win the fight by early knockout, although they are not ruling out a stretched-out battle with the taller former world champ Larios.
Pacquiao’s three sparmates—Rustam Nugaev, Vladimir Sykov, and Shadi Hamsho–have also predicted that Pacquiao will stop Larios somewhere between the fourth and eighth rounds, considering what they have undergone while sparring against the Pacman.
Meanwhile, Rex “Wakee” Salud, Pacquiao’s associate who is now in the country, also told that once the Filipino superstar arrives on Tuesday in Manila, he will immediately work out at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, which should be big enough a place to hold his daily training leading up to the fight.
