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LOS ANGELES—The applause seemed more respectful than awe-inspired. At the end of eight more rounds of sparring, the refreshingly sparse holiday crowd at the Wild Card Gym broke out in a light applause as a couple of trainers herded Manny Pacquiao back to a corner.
It wasn’t the best of performances, but it wasn’t something Freddie Roach was worried about, either.
“We’re good,” the two-time trainer of the year told reporters as Pacquiao ended his Thanksgiving Day workout and hurriedly left the gym on Vine St. in Hollywood. “Overall, I’m happy with his performance.”
Newcomers, though, would have gotten quite a jolt as Pacquiao repeatedly got tagged by sparring mate Rashad Holloway in the first of a pair of four-rounders penciled into Thursday’s regimen. One of those hits seemed to force the pound-for-pound champ into a slight back-pedal.
PLAYFUL
Roach, however, dismissed the slight performance dip as something that was merely a result of Pacquiao’s playfulness coupled with the boxer’s stomach problems.
“He’s always playful a little bit … with his sparring partners,” Roach said, adding the reigning lightweight champion “had a little trouble with his acid reflux and he told me he didn’t want to go hard.”
The 27-year-old Holloway, who has been prepping Pacquiao ever since the latter broke camp to shape up for the “Dream Match” against Oscar De La Hoya on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, also shrugged off Pacquiao’s uninspired show.
“Everybody has a bad day at camp and this was probably one of Manny’s,” said Holloway.
But Roach still managed to find gems out of that “bad day.”
“I thought I saw explosions,” Roach said. “When he wanted it, it was there for him.”
Pacquiao did manage to hold his ground against a pair of light middleweights in the eight rounds of sparring that hiked his camp total 153 Thursday. In the second of the four rounders, Pacquiao would explode into a barrage of combinations that rocked Marvin Cordova.
“He didn’t hurt me, but I felt his power,” Cordova said.
CONFIDENT
None of his sparring partners drew any meaning from Pacquiao’s performance Thursday, still giving him their vote of confidence against De La Hoya, who continues to train in seclusion at the Big Bear facility in California.
“Manny’s like an animal in the ring,” said Cordova, adding that De La Hoya’s main tools—the jab and left hook—isn’t enough to stave off the relentless pressure the 5-foot-6 dynamo is expected to unleash on fight night.
“If Oscar comes in with just one jab, Manny’s going to counter him with the right hook-left hand,” Cordova said. “If Oscar brings in the double, he’ll have to watch out for Manny’s left hand. But all Oscar’s got is his left. He ain’t got no right hand.”
Holloway, on the other hand, believes Pacquiao can bully the bigger De La Hoya into defeat on Dec. 6.
