Pacquiao's camp tells champion: Please be serious

MANILA, Philippines — Manny Pacquiao has sensed the urgency of giving his 100 percent in the final two weeks of his training in the Philippines, the fighter’s Canadian adviser said on Wednesday.

“We had a heart-to-heart talk yesterday and he told me that he will no longer take trips down to Manila or elsewhere during weekends as he had done the last two weeks,” Koncz told The Bulletin.

After his first week of training in Baguio, Pacquiao motored down to Manila to fulfill a commitment that he made to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Just over the weekend, Pacquiao did it again, leaving his training camp and chief trainer Freddie Roach so he could take part in a fun run.

“No more trips down the mountains,” said Koncz, who admitted that he was concerned with the weekly travels from Baguio to Manila that lasted a minimum of five hours.

“You don’t have to keep your fingers crossed,” said Koncz, when told if the promise was indeed genuine and straight from the heart.

Exactly a month before he clashes with Antonio Margarito in Dallas on Nov. 13, Pacquiao has only gotten to spar five times with Michael Medina and Glen Tapia and since kicking off sparring, the 31-year-old pound-for-pound king has logged about 20-plus rounds.

Pacquiao will train in Baguio until Oct. 22 and will have his last workout on local soil the following day, just before he takes a Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles that night with his entire team.

The final two weeks of training under Roach at the more familiar confines of the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood would be crucial since that would be the time when Pacquiao would spar as much as 12 hard rounds in one day.

Meanwhile, Top Rank chief Bob Arum is arriving this weekend from Las Vegas in time for a media day in Baguio on Monday.

“I am so excited to get there and see Manny, the team and the Filipino boxing fans,” said Arum, who will be joined by his stepdaughter Dena DuBoef, and possibly Mexican promoter Fernando Beltran.

Nick Giongo, Manila Bulletin