Sparmate jars RP icon with a straight

LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao played along and got tagged a couple of times when he sparred for eight rounds Thursday at the Wild Card Gym.

His trainer, Freddie Roach, felt it was just fine, saying even before the start of the session Pacquiao had told him he was a little off due to acidity.

There was no cause for alarm, the trainer assured Pinoy mediamen covering Pacquiao’s training for his Dec 6 match with Oscar dela Hoya.

“He was just playing a little bit,” said Roach after a two-hour session.

Against light-middleweight Rashad Holloway, Pacquiao started slow, and in the first round staggered at the center of the ring after taking a right straight to the head.

“I told him to get a little serious,” said Roach.                               

Holloway said it doesn’t mean anything him getting away with a few good hits on Pacquiao during sparring.

“Everybody has a good day and bad day in the gym. Even Mike Tyson I heard he used to get beat up in camp. It’s very competitive. He’s definitely ready and ready to fight three minutes of every round,” said Holloway.

Pacquiao had four rounds with Holloway, then had another four against Marvin Cordova, raising the total number of sparring rounds to 153.

He will spar six rounds on Saturday, and four more on Monday morning before pushing for Las Vegas on board a fancy “Pacman” bus in the afternoon.

Against Cordova, Pacquiao took it more seriously, and a few times dared the undefeated 23-year-old to hit him some more as he swayed on the ropes.

“He told me he didn’t feel good because he had problems with his acid reflux,” said the trainer, and the boxer said it had something to do with the pears he had earlier.

“But overall he was okay.”

Is it a cause for alarm?

“No. Not at all,” Roach smiled back.

“The jab was working well for him overall I was happy with the performance. I thought I saw explosions when he wanted to. And it was there for him when he’s on the attack,” said Roach.

“Always playful a little bit. He made a little adjustment today and he asked me if he could try it out and it worked well for him we’ll see if it works for him on Saturday.”

From the gym Pacquiao drove straight home, and had great fun hosting Thanksgiving dinner for his family, friends and team members.

Highlight of the evening was a Holy Mass, and a boisterous eating contest that had each participant earning $200 if he’d finish a mountain of white rice, fish, beef and chicken. Eight of his friends passed the crazy test.

Pacquiao had put up a contest for his men, all 29 of them joining, that each one who could lose 10 pounds in two weeks would win $2,000. Losing 15 pounds in the same period of time earns an additional $1,000.

So far, a number of them have lost 10 pounds or so, and by Saturday will be assured of $2,000 each.

“This is my way to make them realize how difficult it is to lose weight,” said Pacquiao.

“And they have become too big. It looks bad,” he said. – Abac Cordero