Pacquiao begins training with Roach News

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Pacquiao begins training with Roach

By Daily Sports on May 23, 2017

Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs) has started his official training with his long-time trainer Freddie Roach as of last Sunday to get ready for his July 2 title defense against fellow Top Rank fighter Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs) at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.

Roach wants to have the 38-year-old Pacquiao spar 70 rounds in getting ready for this fight. The Pacquiao-Horn fight will be televised on Top Rank pay-per-view on July 2.

Pacquiao will be sparring with Australian George Kambosis Jr. in getting ready for the Horn fight. He should give Pacquiao some good sparring to get him ready for what he’ll be dealing with when he gets inside the ring with Horn.

Pacquiao and Roach worked out on the mitts for 10 rounds on Monday.

Pacquiao was said to have put in around 3 hours. Pacquiao needs to be in shape for this fight because he’s facing a younger fighter in 29-year-old Horn. Pacquiao wasn’t overwhelming in his last fight against former WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas last September in winning a 12 round unanimous decision. Pacquiao didn’t gas out in that fight, but he wasn’t throwing sustained combinations like he’d been known for in the past.

If Pacquiao doesn’t have that part of his game any longer then he’s probably not going to beat any of the good welterweights. I’m not sure if Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is going to be putting in with the good fighters. The one guy that Arum seems to be interested in matching Pacquiao against is Terence Crawford, one of the 86-year-old promoter’s fighters.

Pacquiao and Crawford could be facing either later this year or in 2018. I’m not sure if that’s a fight that Pacquiao wants, but it might be the only decent money fight that will be offered to him.

If Pacquiao says no to Crawford, then it will be fun to see who Arum matches him against. Vasyl Lomachenko would be a likely option possibly presented to Pacquiao for an in house fight.

*Photo shows Manny Pacquiao.

Source Daily Sports

Posted May 23, 2017