Manny Pacquiao may have been left out of the megabuck round-robin among the best of the super featherweight division, his former manager said yesterday.
Shelly Finkel, Pacquiao’s former manager, in an e-mail to the Bulletin, expressed disappointment that the Filipino is not within the circle of fighters being groomed to engage in the division’s forthcoming super fights.
Finkel said it seemed that Pacquiao, after the past weekend’s big fight that saw Juan Manuel Marquez win over Marco Antonio Barrera, has suddenly appeared to be the one being left out in the cold.
“Sad to say Manny is in the mess I predicted he would be. Again he is on the outside looking in. If he wants Marquez he will deal with Golden Boy or take the short end. Great advice he continues to get,” said Finkel.
No reaction was available from Pacquiao, who made his first session yesterday at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood where he wowed everyone with his condition.
“Manny was pretty sharp,” Macka Foley, a trusted man of Freddie Roach, told the Bulletin.
“We thought he won’t be as sharp because we heard he was so busy with politics just before coming over,” said Foley, noting that Australian conditioning coach Justin Fortune handled the Filipino lefty’s first training session in preparation for an April 14 match with unknown Mexican Jorge Solis in San Antonio, Texas.
Foley said he anticipates a scorching sparring session today pitting Pacquiao against sparmates from Australia and Oxnard in California.
“It could be just a total of six rounds,” said Foley, a former heavyweight fighter who hails from one of the New England states like Roach.
Roach has left the reins of the Wild Card momentarily to Fortune and Foley as he is preoccupied with Oscar De La Hoya in Puerto Rico.
Before heading off to Los Angeles over the weekend, Pacquiao sparred more than 50 rounds in his native General Santos City and this is probably the reason why he was not as rusty as what others had feared.
Pacquiao is the heavy favorite going into his scheduled 12-rounder against Solis, a 27-year-old right-hander who holds a win-loss card of 32-0 with 23 knockouts.
Despite Solis’ unbeaten record, Pacquiao is expected to dispose of him without working out a sweat.
