LOS ANGELES ? All Manny Pacquiao needed on Saturday was a mere 10 seconds to put a smile on everyone?s face in the final day of his sparring session at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
After letting Oxnard-based David Rodela control 90 percent of their two-round faceoff, Pacquiao let loose with a series of lightning-quick combinations that almost sent Rodela down as a crowd of mostly Pacquiao supporters cheered them on.
Exactly a week before he collides with Erik Morales at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Pacquiao experimented a bit and allowed Rodela and another Mexican sparmate, the wide-bodied Jorge Padilla, to hit him to the body and head.
Trainer Freddie Roach was not alarmed by the sight of Pacquiao being struck with heavy blows, knowing all too well that he had seen enough in the past seven weeks to say to himself that the Filipino puncher is more than ready for battle.
So when Pacquiao heard that there were only 10 seconds remaining before the end of the second round with Rodela, he fired away as though he was behind on all scorecards and needed a knockout to steal a win.
One of the punches Pacquiao landed was a right hand that staggered Rodela, who later had nothing but praise for the 27-year-old GenSan bomber who had paid him to be one of his sparmates.
“The guy?s fast, strong and he moves quickly,” said Rodela. “And he doesn?t waste punches. He is very, very effective. And I think he hits like a middleweight and he has the speed to go with it.”
Not only that, Rodela said, “(Manny?s got) good footwork. Side-to-side (movement) and if he throws (punches) you get lost and by the time you go look for him, he?s got you again. And I see he is gonna win on points.”
Following the workout, Pacquiao went to Nat?s Thai restaurant just a few steps from the gym where he hosted a late lunch for his followers and fans and hardly showed signs of fatigue during his one-hour stay there.
He even engaged songwriter Lito Camo to a duet and cracked “knock-knock” jokes to the delight of everyone in attendance before speeding off on his flashy Mercedes Benz to the direction of his plush two-bedroom apartment at The Palazzo in the La Brea area.
Meanwhile, Team Pacquiao is expected to arrive in Las Vegas on Sunday, too ahead of the original schedule. He was scheduled to be there Monday, but since that day falls on a 13th, the always superstitious boxer, said he?d rather travel on the day before.
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NOTES: Right after his final workout, Manny Pacquiao hosted a late lunch at a nearby Thai restaurant and there he hosted an off the cuff gig with songwriter Lito Camo, who belted out a couple of songs to the delight of his followers and fans who took pictures of the fighter singing and strumming the guitar. That same eatery had to close shop early after most of its supplies had been consumed?Going into the Grand Finale, Pacquiao has logged a total of 239 rounds, including 45 in world title fights, in a career that began in 1996, while Morales has racked up 345, including 172 in world title fights. Pacquiao has a 68 percent knockout percentage, while Morales has a 65 percent clip?Malabon construction magnate Polding Correa, the first boxing manager of Pacquiao, was on hand to watch his former ward?s final sparring session. It was under Correa when Pacquiao became the world flyweight champion in Dec. 1998. They took separate ways in January 1999 and have remained friends?Yefim Yellevich Manoulis, a Russian-born cab driver here, is an avid chess fan. “You know Torre?” Manoulis asked the three scribes who?d hailed his cab. He was of course referring to Filipino grandmaster Eugene Torre. As it turns out, Manoulis has a library of chess books.
