Not a fighter who’s just two days away from what could be his toughest fight in recent years.
But for Pacquiao, everything he does in and out of the ring doesn’t really matter, as long as he lands the right punches on fight night.
On Saturday, he’ll be hoping he would when he defends his WBO welterweight crown against Joshua Clottey, who has vowed to stun the world and end Pacquiao’s incredible 11-0 streak dating back to 2005.
The Filipino icon closed out his training camp Thursday at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. He only did five rounds with the mitts, shadow boxed for just a couple of minutes and had less crunches than he normally would in camp.
Pacquiao, who weighed 151 lb earlier in the day, was at 145 after the workout, and should have no problem making 147 in Friday’s official weigh-in at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
As he limbered up before the mitts session, his chief trainer, Freddie Roach, was at ringside, enjoying his coffee and smiling a lot. On top of the ring, Pacquiao horsed around with his strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza.
They seemed to be just having fun in there.
There was a point when Ariza and Pacquiao looked like they were trying to wrestle each other to the ground, like little kids, and Roach had to butt in, “Hey! No wrestling!”
Later on after the workout, Roach admitted that there was “more talking than punching” during the training session. It just goes without saying that Pacquiao is indeed ready to fight.
“I didn’t want him to do much. He’s a hundred percent ready. This is probably the smoothest training camp I ever had,” said Roach, who left Pacquiao in the ring, all by himself, after the mitts session.
“He wanted some more and I said, ‘No,’” said Roach.
Pacquiao shadow-boxed a little, and while in the process, asked his lieutenants if the members of his band were already inside the hotel’s convention hall probably half the size of a football field.
“Nandyan na ba ang banda ko? (Is my band here?),” he asked twice.
In a few minutes, he was done with his workout, changed clothes, and yes, the members of the band were there waiting, at the other end of the hall. Everything was all set, the equipment and all, for a full rehearsal.
Pacquiao has set a tradition of staging a party-concert after a fight, again something that goes beyond the rituals of an ordinary fighter. He said he plans to sing as many as “twenty songs” on Saturday.
By this time, Wild Card security chief Rob Peters had allowed a few fans in, and as soon as Pacquiao hit the first note, that of the Beatles’ song, “Imagine,” the crowd had gathered behind the ropes, their cameras on.
It looked like a real concert, and the way he sang, it appeared to be Pacquiao had already won the fight. Should he win, this will be the same Pacquiao his fans would see at the post-fight party somewhere inside the Texas Rangers ballpark.
“Ayos ba? (Is it okay),” he asked some of those watching as he played the guitar.
The group sang a popular Filipino rock song, Mike Hanopol’s “Laki Sa Layaw,” and got the crowd going. Again, Pacquiao hardly looked like a fighter who was just two days away from a very dangerous fight.
But that’s how he does it. Nobody, nobody but him.
Source: Abac Cordero | Philstar.com
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