MANILA, Philippines - Aware that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be coming in at his best, Manny Pacquiao is leaving nothing to chance, shuttling from basketball gym to the boxing ring, chasing the kind of form that would approximate his rival’s come May 2 in Las Vegas.
“Wala pa sa kalahati yun (That’s not even half of me),” said Pacquiao as he wrapped up his abdominal exercises at the packed MP Tower Gym in Sampaloc, Manila yesterday.
While experts felt that Mayweather had seemed to show signs of slowing down in his last couple of fights with Marcos Maidana, the Filipino icon said he expects the unbeaten American fighter to be in his utmost best when they slug it out in what is tipped to be the richest, biggest pound-for-pound fight ever on May 2 at the MGM Grand.
“Maybe he was just underestimating Maidana. Pero hindi niya gagawin sa akin yun (But he won’t do that to me),” said Pacquiao.
“Floyd will do his best,” he added.
Pacquiao trained for over an hour, a short but intense workout with a CNN crew among the crowd. It was same crew when Pacquiao played in the PBA the other night.
Buboy Fernandez, in charge of training in the absence of Freddie Roach, took the brunt of Pacquiao’s punches.
They did the mitts for six rounds. A few times, a Pacquiao punch slipped in, and caught Fernandez.
“It doesn’t matter if I get hurt. It’s part of the training,” said Fernandez.
Pacquiao plans to leave for Los Angeles tomorrow evening after playing one more time for Kia in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at The Arena in San Juan.
Once in LA, serious training under Roach begins.