Pacquiao continues training sans Roach

Even without chief trainer Freddie Roach, it’s all systems go as far as Manny Pacquiao’s Los Angeles camp is concerned.

In the absence of Roach, who will be missed in this entire week, strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza has been designated to call the shots in maintaining the peace and teamwork that has so far marked the world welterweight champ’s preparations since it started in Baguio City three weeks ago.


Roach flew to Manchester, England early in the week to oversee Amir Khan’s last week of preparations for his Saturday fight against Paul McCloskey and to be in his ward’s corner during the encounter.

“Gaya pa rin ng dati, tuloy-tuloy ang ensayo even without Freddie,” Pacquiao himself said after Tuesday’s workout at the Roach-owned Wild Card Gym in downtown L.A. “Although pahirap nang pahirap ang training, parang madali rin kasi Masaya kaming lahat dito.”
“There really is no substitute for happiness. Kapag Masaya, gumagaan ang trabaho. At pag magaan ang trabaho, nagagawa lahat ng dapat gawin. So far there’s been no major hitches. Everything is going well,” he assessed.

Pacquiao added focus is now on maintaining his stamina, power and speed, which he has completely recovered.
“Freddie has left instructions to Alex, Buboy (assistant coach Buboy Fernandez) and everybody, including me, how to go about the week’s program, “ he said. “Wala naming problema para hindi masunod ang mga yun.”
Ariza said the same thing as he expressed satisfaction as to where preparation is at thus far.
“Yeah, I was asked to hold the fort in Freddie’s absence. All I’ll do is follow all of Freddie’s strict instructions in order to maintain what we’ve attained so far in the past weeks of our training, which I should say has been very ideal,” Ariza said.

“ This has been a different type of training camp, no distractions? No altercations? Nothing of the sorts,” the Colombian conditioning expert assured. “From the onset, program has been running like a well-oiled machine.”

A report over the weekend that Pacquiao knocked down sparring partner Shawn Porter in last Saturday’s session attested to claim that the pound-for-pound king has indeed regfained his most potent weapon in defending his 147-pound belt against “Sugar” Shane Mosley on May 7 in Las Vegas.

Fernandez, for his part, said coordination between Pacquiao’s sight, on the one hand, and his feet and hands, on the other, is what they will be working on with more in the double end ball and speed ball

“Nandoon na ang lakas ng katawan at suntok. Na-recover na rin ang speed. Coordination na lang ang kailangang ma-improve. We will also be working on how Manny can keep his distance sa kalaban. Ito ang mga bagay na bibigyan ng solusyon sa mga huling linggo ng ensayo,” Fernandez explained.

Source: PhilBoxing.com