Back in RP, Pacquiao primes up for training

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao returned to the country early Thursday and will start priming up for a two-month training for his Nov. 14 title fight with World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight king Miguel Cotto.

Pacquiao and his small entourage that toured New York, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego for almost a week to promote the Cotto bout arrived at 5 a.m. via Philippine Airlines flight 103.

He is expected to wrap up all the remaining commitments he left behind while doing the five-city press tour and by next week, serious training starts at the City of Pines.

With barely two months left before he tangles with the 28-year-old Puerto Rican, Pacquiao vows to fully concentrate on his training.

“I am going to train hard to show the people who Manny Pacquiao really is. I will train hard and give my fans what they want to see," the Pacman said.

Conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who has prepared Pacquiao in his last three fights, arrives in the country on Sunday. Two days after, celebrated trainer Freddie Roach follows.

The Baguio City training is expected to last for about a month, before Team Pacquiao flies to the U.S. by mid-October to wind up the camp at the famed Wild Card gym in Los Angeles.

Top Rank Promotions’ Bob Arum also said that Pacquiao has to be in the U.S. on Oct. 17 for a special, one-day promotional event for the bout dubbed “Firepower."

Pacquiao, considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world today, highlighted his five-day city tour abroad by making the ceremonial pitch during the game between San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, which organizers dubbed as “Filipino Heritage Night" at the PETCO Park in San Diego.

The event marked the third time Pacquiao did the ceremonial pitch in a Major League game.

Just last April before his fight with former world junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, the 30-year-old native of General Santos City also made the first pitch during the match between division rivals San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres.

In 2005, he also threw out the first pitch in the Los Angeles Angels Anaheim-Oakland A’s game at the Angels Stadium.

Next fight: March 2010

As this developed, Arum bared that after the Cotto fight, Pacquiao is expected to fight next in March 2010.

Arum wouldn’t name yet who Pacquiao will be taking on in his first bout for the new year, although everything depends on the outcome of his showdown with Cotto and the result of the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Juan Manuel Marquez meeting this weekend.

The Top Rank big boss said Pacquiao is amenable to a middle of March fight, after which, he’ll start concentrating on his bid for a congressional seat in the province of Saranggani during the May national elections. - GMANews.TV

Source: gmanews.tv