A huge media turnout flocked to Freddie Roach?s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California for the Manny Pacquiao media day and they were all swept away by the sharp and explosive fighting skills displayed by the Filipino ring superstar in a sparring session with Mexican Jose Armando Santa Cruz.
?Pacquiao looked sharp and explosive in his workout,? said Karl Freitag of Fightnews.com. Pacquiao has already sparred for 140 rounds against an assortment of sparring mates that include reigning IBF super bantamweight champion Israel Vasquez, Raymundo Beltran and Filipino Ronie Cabili, who tasted Pacquiao?s devastating power as he was stopped from sparring after only one round.
The 27-year-old Pacquiao will taper off with his training on Monday and will then head to Las Vegas, Nevada for his keenly-awaited March 19 mega-fight against Mexican hotshot Erik ?El Terible? Morales at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Roach, the American strategist credited for assembling Pacquiao into a dangerous fighting machine, said that the Ring Magazine and People?s featherweight champion is currently at 129 pounds and has lost none of his speed at the higher weight.
Morales, who has been training discreetly at the cold mountains of The Otomi in northern Mexico, will also wind up his high-altitude preparation for his Pay-Per-View duel against the Filipino southpaw next week.
With only nine more days left before the blockbuster duel, the odds are getting tighter with several sportswriters and boxing pundits differing with their opinions with regards to the outcome of the hotly-anticipated superbout.
For sure, it will be one heck of a fight.
Roach earlier bragged to have developed a secret weapon he called the ?Manila Ice,? so powerful that it could devastate Morales once Pacquiao unleashes it against the Mexican on the fight night.
Morales, on the other hand, did not predict a knockout for the first time in his career in a fight of this magnitude, but the former three-division world champion vowed to wage an agrressive and intelligent fight to combat Pacquiao?s blazing speed and devastating power.
