‘Pacman’ focused despite recent distractions

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Manny Pacquiao is fully focused on next month’s fight with Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas despite the typhoon which has devastated parts of his native Philippines, insists his trainer.

It featured scenes of a worried Roach pleading with his fighter to move their training camp from Baguio as another typhoon was forecast to land. “I was concerned for the safety of the sparring partners, Manny’s crew, Manny and myself and very concerned the typhoon was going to come quicker than it did,” Roach said. “Manny was more relaxed about it and so I said, ‘Manny, I’ll be waiting for you in Manila.’ I was just trying to get him motivated to go and then that night at midnight he got motivated, he called me up and said, ‘Let’s go.’ So we left at midnight and went back to Manila.”

It left him mentally drained and very sad, naturally. But once we got in the gym, he put it aside.
–Trainer Freddie Roach

The capital, however, proved even more distracting as Pacquiao, who is involved with local politics, was sought by local officials for meetings. “The last week in Manila was a little bit difficult because we had so many politicians there, trying to make meetings with Manny and everybody was trying to pull him in every direction they could,” Roach said. “So Manila wasn’t that great for us. He was distracted in Manila and our last day of boxing there I was really disappointed, he didn’t do that well. His mind was just somewhere else. “Then we got to LA and he boxed yesterday. We still had a bit of jet lag and I didn’t really expect a great day from Manny, he looked a little tired in his eyes, but he gave me 10 great rounds. He’s back on track and he’s very close to being ready for the fight.”