Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach says eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao looks phenomenal after the Filipino southpaw resumed training at the Wild Card Gym yesterday. Pacquiao did 16 rounds on the punch-mitts after a morning run at Griffith Park and indicated his one week layoff from sparring had fired him up just as Roach had expected. However, there was no definite word on whether Pacquiao will resume sparring on Tuesday, Los Angeles time. Roach had asked him to skip sparring last week after 29 hard-fought rounds the previous week, concerned that Manny may burn himself out and leave the fight in the gym. ABS-CBN reporter Dyan Castillejos told the New Standard/boxingmirror.com that Roach was ?over the top? after Pacquiao displayed ?amazing speed and power? when working on the punch-mitts during which Roach got hurt after being tagged a couple of times. Roach revealed that for the first time they watched a video of southpaw Zab Judah in his fight against Mayweather and that Pacquiao was ?eager to learn.?
Former Pacquiao strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza who is now working with Mayweather downplayed reports that the undefeated pound for pound No. 1 had a busted lip that affected his training and that his knuckles were cut and bothering him.
Ariza said the cut was caused by a head-butt in sparring while the apparent damaged skin on his knuckles was no cause for concern. Mayweather?s close friend, journalist David Mayo of MLive reported that the welterweight champion who is preparing for his mega-buck showdown with Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2, has sparred with what he described as ?surely excruciating pain of superficial skin marks on his knuckles and then had to cope with the sting of the ointment.? Mayweather bucked the split lip and sparred, although Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who first informed boxingmirror.com about the split lip and said because of bleeding each time he was hit, Mayweather had to stop sparring at times.
