This content is protected By Emmanuel B. Villaruel PhilBoxing.com Fri, 21 Sep 2007 This content is protected Manny Pacquiao finally breached the 100-round mark and gauging from the great shape he had shown and excellent physical conditioning he had gone through for the past four weeks at the RWS Gym, celebrated American trainer Freddie Roach declared the Filipino ring icon is 100 percent ready for his October 6 rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas. "Yes. He's 100 percent ready for Barrera, definitely. He's in great shape now. Nothing will change that," said Roach after putting Pacquiao on another tough grind yesterday at the world-class sweatshop owned by top Cebuano boxingman Rex "Wakee" Salud. "He gets better as we went along. His condition is good. I still want to see him a little more action though that's why we gonna box for another 10 rounds on Friday if he's feeling good," added the amiable ring tactician. So far, Pacquiao has logged 102 rounds of torrid sparring against Mexicans David Rodela and Raymundo "Sugar" Beltran and his compatriots Arniel Tinampay and Aaron Melgarejo. Unlike in their previous sparring wherein he employed a hit-and-run tactic, Rodela this time slugged it out with Pacquiao in close range, which is the bread-and-butter of Barrera. "They made me change my style to simulate the style of Barrera," said Rodela, who once described that Pacquiao's punches hit like "a baseball bat." Pacquiao will wind up his extensive training regimen in Cebu on Friday where he is set to spar for 10 rounds. After his workout, Pacquiao and his entourage will leave for Manila. They will enplane for Los Angeles at 10 pm on Saturday. Pacman will take a rest on Sunday, before plunging back to hard training on Monday where he is scheduled to spar for eight rounds at Roach's Wild Card Gym situated on Vines Street in Hollywood. Roach Pacquiao will spar for six rounds on Wendesday and four on Friday. They will leave for Los Vegas on September 30. "It's going to be a great fight, but there's only one winner and it's going to be Manny. He's prepared whatever Barrera brings to the fight. I'm confident he will knock Barrera out but if the fight goes the distance, Manny is ready to go 12 rounds," said Roach. :bbb Source: [code]http://philboxing.com/news/story-12671.html[/code]
Its Freddie Roach's job to hype his fighter up. You would never hear how their fighter has had a hard and uneasy camp, or how badly his training might be going. Of course he'll exaggerate. I thought I heard the Pacman wasn't taking this fight seriously for months.
