A bark that?s equally bad as his bite?
Manny Pacquiao kept delivering killer verbal blows at Juan Manuel Marquez, suggesting that Marquez?s six-week head start in training was something the Mexican champion ?badly needed? for their February 26 rematch.
Marquez, the featherweight champion of the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation, has been training vigorously since late November for the Pacquiao bout.
Pacquiao will begin formal preparations only when he flies to California later this week to train under Freddie Roach. Pacquiao?s long-time training partner, Buboy Fernandez, will join him in the US.
?Just let Marquez do what he has to do to prepare for me because as far as I?m concerned, he?s going to need all the workout he can get,? Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao?s original January 8 flight could be set earlier on January 6.
Granting the date is moved earlier, Pacquiao will only have 51 days to prepare for the rematch. When he left for Roach?s gym in Hollywood on March 20 for his first bout vs Marquez on May 9, Pacquiao nearly had the same period of time to work out with 50 days.
The two fighters drew in their first bout after Marquez, considered as one of the most textbook counterpunchers today, survived three early knockdowns in the hands of the hard-hitting Pacquiao.
Monday, Pacquiao shot a television commercial for Darlington socks?one of a handful of products he endorses?at the Wild Card Gym in Para?aque.
The commercial shoot?along with his forays in cockfighting and billiards, and lately in pickup hoops?has concerned fans and local boxing aficionados alike, who believe Pacquiao should already be conditioning physically and mentally for the late-February match.
But according to veteran cornerman Lito Mondejar, judging by the way Marquez fought Orlando Salido to a draw last September, Marquez?s first match following Pacquiao, Filipinos need not worry too much.
?Marquez couldn?t even dispose of Salido. If that were Pacquiao [instead of Marquez], Salido would?ve been a goner,? Mondejar said.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao will forego the annual awards night of the Philippine Sportswriters Association on January 13, where he will be feted as Sportsman of the Year for an unprecedented third straight year.
Business manager Rod Nazario will likely accept the trophy on behalf of his ward.
