When Amir Khan spars with Manny Pacquiao, it is a truly mutually beneficial experience.
Or, at least it’s supposed to be when two such high caliber world champions cross gloves in the gymnasium, be it Baguio or Freddie Roach’s sweatbox, the Wild Card Gym.
That’s why Floyd Mayweather Jr. hires solid, 10 round main event type sparmates to hone his boxing edges.
Or you could harken back to the days when a young, unproven but ambitious kid named Larry Holmes, who one famous trainer advised to stay in Easton, Pa., and become a truck driver, was sparring with Muhammad Ali prior to the Thrilla In Manila.
Unlike Khan vis-a-vis Pacman, Holmes was on Ali’s sparring partner roster and payroll but the idea is essentially the same.
Which is why I find it amusing that some internet creepers are trying to make case that Jose Benavidez, the precocious teenaged prospect, “beat” rising Pinoy lightweight Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta when they sparred at Roach’s fistic emporium on Monday.
