The collective blood pressure of Manny Pacquiao fans may have taken a quantum leap yesterday morning when news came out that the Filipino icon had left his training camp in Los Angeles arriving Manila Sunday night.
To top it all, trainer Freddie Roach was quoted by Ronnie Nathanielsz on phililboxing.com as having said that he was not informed of the unscheduled departure although he had heard about it. He was said to have declared that Manny “needs to get focused” on his training right away.
Truth be told, many are antsy because this is not the first time that Manny has upped and left camp for various reasons, the latest of which is his purported concern over his bank deposits, which we can all safely assume are quite substantial.
This was borne out of the critical situation in the United States money system in the past week or so. However, in my cursory monitoring of financial news, I got the sense that Asia, including the Philippines, is supposedly isolated from the ongoing crisis in the States.
But what do I know? A bank crash probably wouldn?t affect me much directly, given the laughable figures in my account.
So I called Rex “Wakee” Salud to try and get a better sense of what the real score was. Unfortunately, Wakee said he was just as surprised, but did not sound in the wee bit concerned.
“I understand he had a very urgent matter to attend to. I called him this morning but he was asleep so I was not able to talk to him personally,” said Salud.
But I thought he had an urgent matter to attend to, I thought. Perhaps he would attend to it in the afternoon, I reasoned to myself. No sense of getting pushy here.
Salud also assured “it?s early in the training program and he is scheduled to go back right away so I don?t think there is anything to worry about.”
Edwin Sese, a long-time boxing enthusiast and commentator, who happened to be in the booth while I was doing my show yesterday on Sports Radio, echoed Wakee?s sentiments, saying there is enough time left for Manny?s training, provided he doesn?t dilly-dally any longer because against an opponent like de la Hoya, he cannot afford to slack off.
When I asked Wakee what his take on the fight was, he was cautious as ever, saying he thought the chances were at 50-50. Pressed if he could make it 60-40 in favor of Manny, he demurred, saying you cannot be that confident against a guy like de la Hoya.
Somehow, I was relieved to hear that someone close to Pacquiao would prefer to be prudent about his chances rather than mouthing the sort of superlatively optimistic outlooks we sometimes hear on the coming spectacle on Dec. 6.
I don?t know whether Manny?s quick jaunt is warranted or not, and it is true that there is ample time to prepare especially if he does double back forthwith. But if there was one fight that I wish he would take very seriously, it would have to be this one. Then again, it could just be a clever ploy to lull the opposition into thinking he is being cavalier.
How I wish it were so.
