GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Manny Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach could now rest easy.
Roach, who flew to this city to prep up Manny Pacquiao for his welterweight fight against WBO champion Timothy Bradley, was surprised to see his prized boxer in great shape.
“Manny’s in great shape when I got here and I thought I can push him a little bit the moment we started preparations in earnest,” Roach said.
Roach was referring to the energy-sapping six-round mitt-punching session with Pacquiao upon his arrival here last Monday followed by a more rigorous 10-round skirmish Tuesday.
The five-time trainer of the year had earlier planned to do away with the mitts Wednesday and to just confine the day for lighter rounds with the heavy bag, double end and speed ball, precisely to allow the eight-division titlist’s tired body a respite.
“He called me this morning (Wednesday) begging me to cancel the whole day training activities. I consented because, for one, as I said, there’s nothing much more to do as far as his physical state is concerned, and second, it’s still too early in preparations,” he pointed out.
“He confessed having to play basketball in a tournament in the evening and I thought giving him that won’t hurt much since we still have seven weeks left building up,” he said.