LAS VEGAS – Even on his last day at the gym, just 48 hours before his anticipated showdown with Miguel Cotto, there’s still no stopping Manny Pacquiao.
The boxer who trains like no other just wouldn’t heed orders for him to call it a day. He refused to take his gloves off when his conditioning coach tried to, and said he wanted more.
Pacquiao pounded the mitts for four rounds with Freddie Roach. It was supposed to be a light workout, one where they were supposed to just go through the motions, but to him it’s not.
Late in the fourth round, Pacquiao threw a booming right hook that sent one of the mitts flying.
“That’s it,” said Freddie, taking the other one off and tossing it toward his corner.
“I quit,” said the trainer. Then he smiled at Pacquiao.
“Sorry, Manny I have to take them (gloves) off,” said Alex Ariza, the conditioning coach, as he approached the 30-year-old superstar.
“What?” Pacquiao protested, and with a little nod, Roach gave Ariza the go-signal to let him go.
Pacquiao got off the ring, and spent some minutes with the double-end bag as Michael Jackson’s music was played inside the gym where a few dozen of his friends and supporters were allowed in.
Then he worked the speed ball and skipped ropes, after which he climbed the ring once more, shadow-boxed a little more, and did hundreds of crunches. This time, Roach was motioning to Ariza to cut it off.
“You’re done, Manny. You’re done. It’s beautiful. That’s it,” said Roach from outside of the ring.
“It’s like you’re in a horserace, and Manny is one of the horses. He keeps on moving and moving inside his gate, and when it opens, boom! and he’s gone,” said Ariza,
And when Pacquiao was all done, he tipped the scales.
A couple of his training assistants, including a new one, a hulking Brazilian with colorful tattooes on his arms all the way up to his neck and face, and looked like a wrestler, tried to shield Pacquiao from the media as he was on the scales.
“No photos, no photos,” said one.
However, there were moments when Pacquiao fooled around, and when he did, Roach could only smile.
“I like it when he does that especially since it’s our last day of training. I like it when he’s relaxed. I don’t want him getting bored,” said Roach. – Abac Cordero