Manny Pacquiao camp reports progress, timing improvements
A new standard has emerged for the Pacquiao camp in their bid to prepare for Antonio Margarito: be in better shape than they were for Miguel Cotto last November.
Sources confirm that Pacquiao has begun to intensify workouts and vie for superhuman shape, with conditioning specialist Alex Ariza and legendary Freddie Roach heading progress in his corner. Ariza recently
said that Pacquiao is now doing “whatever I want,” and that he is ingesting over 7,000 calories a day including protein shakes.
Ariza, who joined Pacquiao’s camp in 2008, brings technological innovation to the mix with a degree in conditioning and nutrition, while Roach brings the timeless boxing bible, passed down from generation
to generation.
Ariza confirmed that as he continues to spar, Pacquiao is looking much better.
“I thought he (Pacquiao) looked really good,” Ariza said of his last session. “His timing is almost there but he’s working on some things so I thought he did very well.”
Roach turned heads recently when he conceded that after two weeks of training Pacquiao is still not at optimal condition and that they “still have a long way to go.”
Roach said of his last sparring session: “we’re just beginning to get the game plan down and get the timing and so forth. He did what I wanted him to do a couple of times. It’s a work in progress.”
Ariza went on the record recently and announced conditioning would be the biggest factor in the fight against Margarito, due to his bigger size and natural ability to tire Pacquiao out. To negate those
consequences, Ariza is expertly getting Pacquiao to gain weight and strength, but delicately attempting not to lose his signature speed in the process.
His weight is “slowly starting to come up again but I’d rather not say right now [what he weighs]. Give me two weeks and I’ll tell you,” Ariza said. He added: “and in two weeks I can have him taking
off his shirt. I know, when Manny starts to feel confident about his body he takes his shirt off.”
Tags: