MANILA, Philippines — Unable to spar for a while, Manny Pacquiao sweated it out in the gym and on the road yesterday.
And he did it in style.
Showing tremendous endurance, Pacquiao set a personal best of 38 minutes in covering Griffith Park, alternately jogging, sprinting and running. He normally covers the urban park on the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles in 41 minutes, according to a report by GMA 7’s Chino Trinidad.
At the Wild Card Gym, the Filipino ring superstar was even more impressive, drawing the attention of training supervisor Justin Fortune, Filipino Trainer Buboy Fernandez and physical therapist Jeff de Guzman.
“Pacman is in very good condition, he doesn’t run out of steam,” said De Guzman, who watched the boxing idol arrived at the gym at 11 p.m. and worked out for two-and-a-half hours.
Pacquiao, who will defend his WBC International super-featherweight title on April 14 against Mexican Jorge Solis at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, was prevented from sparring after suffering a scratch in the left eyebrow.
De Guzman said Pacquiao did five rounds of shadow-boxing, then hit the mitts for 10 rounds.
Pacquiao then hit the heavy bags for two rounds, and followed it up with five rounds on the double-end bag.
Fernandez then took charge as Pacquiao spent 10 minutes on the speedball, 10 minutes skipping the rope, and another four rounds of shadow-boxing to cool down, before doing a series of floor exercises.
“There’s no problem with Manny, he gives it all when training,” said Fernandez in Cebuano.
Sources at the Wild Card Gym have indicated that promoter Bob Arum wants Pacquiao, who is said to have hit peak form early, to fly to San Antonio, Texas, 10 days before the fight to help promote the fight, as well as bring Pacquiao to a game of the San Antonio Spurs.
