The Art of War: Roach And Ariza Just Want Pacquiao to Emerge as If Badly Prepared In Order to Deceive Margarito
For those who have been trailing behind the career path of Manny Pacquiao ever since mid 2001 when he stumbled upon the portals of the now famous Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach in California shall have no trouble recalling how the iconic Filipino used to accomplish his assignments for his fights. Just like the ascetic life of a monk in the monastery, Pacquiao used to lock himself up in the gym and trained as if the fate of the human race the next day depended upon his winning. No wonder, his perseverance of the greatest measure and radical talent paid off by propelling him to the pinnacle of his sport. However, in stark contrast of old, the effort of hanging away from distractions looks like today a great deal of hard work for Pacquiao than knocking out a Ricky Hatton or a Miguel Cotto. In addition, at present, making extra sacrifices like shunning away from extracurricular activities means uphill struggle as if he is bound to scale the frozen and unforgiving trails of Mount Everest.
A few mentions to make, Manny Pacquiao, arguably the most famous Filipino to have ever set foot on Earth, persists to dabble in many forms of pastime which are otherwise all hurtful to his incoming fight with the equally dangerous adversary from Mexico, Antonio Margarito –playing and coaching basketball, amusing his fans with his rather mediocre singing, public appearances here and there, etc. His legislative obligations as one of the most prominent members of the Philippine House of Representatives precluded his usual assumption of fulltime training in the United States; he instead had to pitch the greater segment of training camp in the Philippines where interruptions were inevitable, not to mention the inauspicious weather conditions in his native country that added to the mountainous pile of disruptions that he had to deal with. Thus, in apparent adverse consequence, Pacquiao was reported to have prodded away in his training. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, sounding alarmed, had declared Pacquiao would be defeated had the fight happened at the time, sending ripples like a plague to the Filipino public.
Subsequently, nearly two weeks ago, training camp has moved back to the US, giving his cosmic number of supporters an immense sigh of relief knowing that their long time conquering hero being ocean away from home country could finally train with ardent concentration and commitment which have been his way of life through his decade-long residency at the world renowned gym. Indeed, a couple of days removed after his US arrival, reports had it that Pacquiao easily made himself look perked up; speed and sparring workmanships picked up appreciably. Alas! Pacquiao was, very recently, reported to have missed two regular training days yet again, attending such irrelevant matters as basketball coaching and endorsing a Las Vegas - based US senatorial candidate.
Faced with this uncomfortable reality going on at camp, with Pacquiao appearing no trouble refracting away from Roach’s supervising path, does the camp and the current pound-for-pound king ready to relinquish his regal perch and leave boxing for greater good? All at once preparing Pacquiao folks on how to accept the possible downfall of their adored champion, without being deeply sorrowed, in the process? Not at all, in all likelihood; Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s long time 50-year-old American trainer, knows that his most revered pupil despite the historic prodigy of the heights of achievement he already scaled, the Pacman, is matter-of-factly, has still a vast of pugilistic profusion he can easily collect in a span of, at least, three more years. The legend from General Santos City, Philippines, is himself cognizant at how his myriad of off-boxing triumphs – television and political careers for cases – pivots around his ring conquests.
Of course long time ago, when Pacquiao was just a poor lad starting to learn his trade, Roach and Pacquiao cannot afford to break away from those exacting training datebooks. But the Pacquiao of today is a well-polished, finished product. To make a considered deduction, at this stage, all he should do is train to recover endurance, accomplish the weight limit, and practice the essential game plans to be used against a given opponent, which is on the ground of years of brilliant and extremely triumphant professional practice, Pacquiao and his team can make themselves ready under a mode of preparation which is a bit different, and should we say, a bit cramming in contrast to what they used to have. Physically and mentally, Pacquiao is a fast learner. That being said, it is quite safe to surmise that there is not a thing to cause any worry of severe extent.
This apprehension-pregnant account being aired by Freddie Roach and Alex Ariza, the well-schooled conditioning coach of Pacquiao, as having their worst camp ever is just – apart from business rationale- a kind of a canny maneuver that tends to make their fighter emerge unprepared and incompetent reporting to the fight. But in truth they got no problem in camp as far as Pacquiao’s preparation is concerned; come fight night, all stones will have been turned as customary. They just want to drag Margarito into believing that he’ll be facing a badly prepared and weak version of the ‘Storm Across the Pacific’; thus making the ‘Tijuana Tornado’ a bit predisposed to making himself careless and overconfident; under which case, Pacquiao should simply take advantage and knock his burly Mexican rival out.
Written by Unofre Pili
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