Returning Pacquiao buckles down to work

Manny Pacquiao will have very little time to rest when he arrives this morning from a 12-hour flight from Los Angeles then plunges back into training in the afternoon.

Pacquiao, who spent the last four weeks training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, will be welcomed at the airport by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza. The Filipino boxing hero will be brought straight to the Manila Hotel where his pregnant wife Jinkee is expected to meet him. It will be their first meeting since Pacquiao left for the US May 15. Shortly after breakfast and a little chat with family, friends and supporters, Pacquiao, according to plans, will check in at nearby Diamond Hotel.

From there, the Filipino knockout artist will take a 10-minute ride to the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex to train at the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines gym. Pacquiao will arrive with trainers Freddie Roach and Buboy Fernandez, manager Shelly Finkel, lawyer Nick Khan, LA-based adviser Joe Ramos and some close friends. Pacquiao is fast wrapping up his training for the 12-round bout against Mexican Oscar Larios on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.

The fight is set at 130 lbs. Pacquiao has trained hard for this coming fight, which will serve as his tuneup match for a third and most probably the last meeting with Mexican superstar Erik Morales. According to previous plans, Pacquiao, from LA, would wrap up his training in Baguio City, either in a camp set up by San Miguel Corporation or at Teachers’ Camp where RP boxers train.

But plans have been changed with Pacquiao seriously considering the ABAP gym at the historic sports complex or the Wild Card Gym in Parañaque City. Pacquiao owns a house at BF Homes Parañaque, just a few blocks and a few minutes away from the gym owned by his estranged business manager Rod Nazario. Larios is training in Japan, and is scheduled to fly at the latest five days before the fight, in time for a public workout, the final press conference, and of course, the official weigh-in.