Football
Steven Kim 17y

Pacquiao returns to the Philippines to train for rematch

Trainer Freddie Roach was as taken aback as anyone else when he heard over the weekend that his signature fighter, Manny Pacquiao -- who faces Marco Antonio
Barrera on October 6th in Las Vegas -- would be returning to the Philippines, instead of staying in Hollywood, Calif. to train for this rematch.

After several delays in arriving to the States, which caused a postponement of a press conference a couple of weeks ago, the mercurial 'Pac Man' finally arrived late last week. After participating in the long-awaited presser last Friday afternoon in Beverly Hills, later that night he would be back on a plane to his native land.

"I was surprised because I thought -- and we had discussed -- him coming up to the World Cup to support the Philippine team. He was supposed to be the team captain," said Roach, who was in Sacramento this past weekend with his cadre of Filipino fighters that participated in this past weekend's event at the Arco Arena. "And I really wanted his support to be there for the boys and help Gerry Penalosa. Because him and Gerry are very close. So I was a little disappointed that he didn't come because Gerry and him have been good friends for a long time and Gerry's a respectful figure that Manny does respect.

"I thought he would come but I guess the issues in the Philippines that he had to take care of were more pressing at the time. I was very surprised, but I was a little disappointed that he didn't support Gerry."

One of 'the issues' is the possibility of Barrera spies infiltrating the Wild Card Boxing Club, which has been brought up by Pacquiao to various Filipino outlets. That seems curious given that the gym has been kept private for the last few Pacquiao camps since the circus-like atmosphere that surrounded his training camp for his initial foray versus Erik Morales in March 2005. Also, video-taping Pacquiao is prohibited without the consent of Roach.

Roach just chuckles at the thought.

"I don't think spies are going to help anyways," he says. "I don't think boxing's really into that, in the FBI business. I wonder if the spies are going to be in Manila?"

Then there are the issues of a rumored dalliance with Filipina pop star Ara Mina, who has been romantically linked to the married Pacquiao. If you google those two names or go on Filipino-based boxing websites, links abound on this subject. For the record, both Pacquiao and Mina vigorously deny any love connection.

Roach is usually the calming force in the turbulent life of Pacquiao, but even he admits to perhaps not having the influence he once had.

"Usually, I can control Manny, but now I can control him when I'm in front of him," the trainer says. "If I'm not in front of him it's very difficult. He's changed a little bit and I think since I went away with De La Hoya and missed his last fight, maybe he's testing me a little bit, see if I'll go to the Philippines with him. But I have no problems with the travel and the thing is as long as we start training right away when we get there, I'm happy."

Roach will soon be reunited with his boxer.

"Pacquiao originally wanted to train in the Philippines for the first month and then that changed when the press conference was scheduled. So we decided that when he was coming in for the press conference that we're going to stay in L.A. and train for the fight because I didn't want him traveling back and forth so much," he would tell Maxboxing on Tuesday afternoon. "But he offered to go with the original plan and he wants to train for the first month in the Philippines. So I leave tonight at 10. I got the sparring partners all set up to go and we're going to spend a month in the Philippines getting ready for this fight and then we're going to spend the last two weeks here -- one in LA, one week in Vegas."

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