HOLLYWOOD – In a rare moment Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Filipino scribes were allowed inside the Wild Card Gym to catch Manny Pacquiao spar with Ghislain Maduma for four rounds.
Expectations were high that Pacquiao would dominate Maduma, who had been raving about the Filipino icon’s sharpness heading into his rubber match with Timothy Bradley next week in Las Vegas
But it wasn’t quite the case, as Pacquiao kept getting tagged by the skilled Maduma in the opening round. He spent most of the round arranging his headgear each time Maduma clipped him with jabs and straights. The Congolese-Canadian even caught him with a solid left hook to the body at one point.
Maduma continued to mount his offense in the next round, and Pacquiao kept absorbing his punches. But the latter picked up the pace in the next two cantos with his usual flurries and seemed unperturbed despite his foe’s attacks.
Pacquiao finished the session strong, but questions have been raised about his increased vulnerability. Should the panic button be pushed?
Maduma then cleared things up.
“Today, it’s not actually real sparring. We were just having fun,” he told a couple of scribes after the session ended and Pacquiao moved on to working the mitts.
“It’s nothing like the previous ones (sparring sessions),” Maduma added.
Indeed, Pacquiao looked to toy around during the session, at one instance hitting Maduma with both fists at the same time.
Maduma insisted that Pacquiao’s readiness shouldn’t be judged by what transpired during their sparring session.
“The work has been done now, and we just have to wait for the fight,” he continued.
Pacquiao could be hiding something for Bradley, as he resumed training – shadowboxing and pounding the mitts with Roach – while displaying the same ferocity he has shown throughout the camp.
As Maduma stressed, we have to wait until next week.
