Pacman sluggish, struggles in workout

On his first full day of workout here, Manny Pacquiao looked sluggish, unimpressive.

But make no mistake about it, the Filipino ring icon isn’t behind on schedule as far as his preparation for his July 2 fight with Mexican Oscar Larios is concerned.

Only, the jet lag and a late night out seemed to have slowed down the Gen. Santos fighter barely two weeks before the big fight at the Big Dome.

"You can see him struggle a bit. But in a couple of days, he’ll be fine," trainer Freddie Roach told a small group of mediamen inside the oven-hot ABAP gym yesterday.

"By Friday (tomorrow) he’ll be a lot different. No more distractions, hopefully," he added.

He was referring to his ward’s failure to hit the bed early Tuesday, no thanks to a commitment to attend the movie premiere of his self-titled film that finished way beyond its schedule.

Pacquiao, who arrived from Los Angeles early Tuesday morning and did some workouts in the afternoon, appeared haggard and tired after four to five rounds of sparring with Russian lightweight Rustam Nugaev.

But he shrugged off the notions that lack of rest caused him to huff and puff a bit in his training.

"Natural lang naman ’yun, heavy training pa kasi ngayon," said Pacquiao.

What was originally planned as a closed-door, two-hour workout was made open to the public as the training began past 12 noon.

"We hit the road as early as 6 a.m. We didn’t rest and just stayed up before the workout," said Roach, who bared that Pacquiao didn’t get home until 12 midnight shortly after personally watching the movie premiere about his life at the Megamall.