LAS VEGAS ? Though he sparred four rounds, Manny Pacquiao?s last day of training, at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, was somehow light and easy.
Trainer Freddie Roach said the hard part, in training, is over.
?We?re just keeping his eyes sharp. It?s a nice, quiet day,? said the two-time Trainer of the Year who?s been working Pacquiao?s corner since 2001.
Pacquiao traded punches, banged bodies with Julio Gamboa, who was called in after the original guy, Filipino-Puerto Rican Carlos Tangaro, didn?t show up.
?I was supposed to bring in the Filipino but he couldn?t come so I called in Gamboa,? said Roach who was happy with the outcome.
?What?s nice about Gamboa is he tries to motivate Manny a little bit,? said Roach of the 36-year-old welterweight from Nicaragua.
Pacquiao pounded Gamboa with heavy blows and by the end of the second round it looked like the Pinoy superstar looked like he was trying to take him out.
But each time Gamboa asked for more.
?Come on! Come on!,? Gamboa murmured, and oftentimes Pacquiao just smiled.
Roach said all they have to do now is keep Pacquiao loose, and make sure that all the hard work since they opened camp in the second week of May will be carried to the ring at Mandalay Bay.
?We?ll just have to make sure we don?t leave it in the gym,? said Roach.
?Just stay loose and be ready for the fight.?
Roach watched as Pacquiao spent some minutes on the double-end bag, speed ball and the rope.
He said there?s no concern at all, no worries, nothing.
?No. No concerns. Diaz is a tough guy but it will take more than toughness to beat Manny Pacquiao,? he added.
