Junior middleweight status too difficult for Manny Pacquiao to maintain
Word on the street is that following his three-year term as Sarangani congressman, boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao will advance to a Senatorial run.
Now it looks like winds have set sails the same way with respect to fighting, as Pacquiao will return to welterweight following his junior middleweight title bout with Antonio Margarito.
On Bob Arum's weekend trip to Baguio City, team Pacquiao took the opportunity to inform Arum of the unique difficulties that competing at junior middleweight had placed on Pacquiao.
It’s no secret that Manny has been struggling to retain his signature skills at the 150-pound contracted catch-weight for the fight, and that rigorous routines and regimes have taken a toll on his body.
"They talked to me about this," Arum admitted. "I leave the technical issues, the boxing side of it to them of course."
"It's just too much size difference fighting these bigger guys. Antonio Margarito has a contractual weight limit of 150 pounds, but he is likely to add 15 pounds the day before the fight weigh in and then weigh 165 when they get into the ring at Cowboys
Stadium […] Freddie [Roach] and Alex [Ariza] were telling me Manny will weigh in at 149 or 150 and then not add much weight after that, so as to not lose any of his phenomenal speed. But they stressed they don't want Manny stretching it like this after this
fight."
Ariza recently spoke about the peculiarities of training Pacquiao for the fight, saying that in the case of most fighters, the objective is to lose weight for a valuable fight. In Manny’s case, the opposite is true. Ariza has been walking the fine line of
trying to bulk Pacquiao up, while also preserving his signature speed. Such a balancing act demands wide-sweeping regulation, insight, and technological innovation.
Bob Arum suggested Pacquiao will look to compete again in the welterweight category in May of 2011.
In that division, possibilities would be ripe for the picking following some upcoming mega-fights. Whoever wins a junior welterweight bout between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander could make for a good opponent against Pacquiao. That isn’t even to mention
guys like Andre Berto or Amir Khan.
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