By Jerome Wilson: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has decided to get an early start to his training camp by taking part in some early training without trainer Freddie Roach in the Philippines. Pacquiao, 33, has been working on his conditioning to get ready to start his training camp on April 16th for his June 9th fight against unbeaten Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While Pacquiao is still the favorite in the fight, it’s hard to know who will come out on top on June 9th because of how bad Pacquiao looked in his last fight against 38-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez. Many people thought that Pacquiao lost. At the very least, Pacquiao appeared clueless, slow and not sharp compared to his previous form in 2009.
Buboy Fernandez, Pacquiao’s close friend and helper, said this to Philstar.com “Manny’s moving well. But I’m not surprised anymore. It’s like he never stops training. Except for his timing, he never loses his power.”
Pacquiao’s power isn’t the issue here. It’s his stamina and old legs. He no longer jumps around from side to side like he did in 2009 and earlier in his career. Since his fight with Joshua Clottey in 2010, Pacquiao has become a plodder. Whether that be from gaining too much weight or just plain old age rearing it’s ugly head, the reality is he’s slowing down. Pacquiao can look great in training against a heavy bag, and over-matched sparring partners picked out for him, but in the ring he’s not looked sharp in quite some time.
Pacquiao’s trainer Roach is currently working with former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan in the Philippines to try and get him ready for his May 19th rematch against Lamont Peterson.
Pacquiao will be training for eight weeks to get ready for the Bradley fight. There was talk of Pacquiao having a 10 week plan, but it’ll only be eight weeks. You can call Pacquiao two weeks of conditioning as part of the training camp.