Pacquiao arrives in Los Angeles to begin training for Mayweather

By Boxing News - 03/01/2015 - Comments

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By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) arrived last Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. in Los Angeles, California to begin his training at the Wildcard Gym to get ready for his May 2nd fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs).

There was a huge amount of fans and members of the media that were there to greet Pacquiao at the LAX airport last night. But instead of coming out to meet the reporters and fans, Pacquiao reportedly took the backdoor to exit the airport.

Obviously this was a disappointment for the people who had to deal with traffic and the basic hassle of coming to try and get a glimpse of the 36-year-old Filipino fighter.

“The head of immigration in LA led us to the backdoor. So I was not aware that many journalists were already waiting for us outside. My heartfelt apology to all of them,” Pacquiao said via Philboxing.com.

Pacquiao is often greeted by a huge amount of fans and media members when he lands in the United States. It would have been a very rare circumstance if no one showed up to see Pacquiao’s arrival at the airport.

Pacquiao will begin his training at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles on Monday, March 2nd, with his assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez and his strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune.

Pacquiao’s main trainer Freddie Roach will be arriving in the United States on March 9th to begin training Pacquiao. Roach is with two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming in Macau, China to get him ready for his title shot this Saturday night on March 7th.

“I will prepare hard for this fight to give the boxing fans the kind of entertainment they want,” Pacquiao said. “This is what I consider the real fight of my life.”

This is definitely Pacquiao’s first real fight since he was blasted out in 6 rounds by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012. Since that fight, Pacquiao has been matched softly against Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri and Tim Bradley.

There’s a huge difference from those fighters and Mayweather. Pacquiao will find that out quickly when he gets inside the ring with Mayweather on May 2nd. The easy fights have helped Pacquiao get back on the winning track again, but they’re probably not going to help him in any way get ready for what’s in store for him when he gets inside the ring with Mayweather.

Roach will have the Wildcard Gym closed off during Pacquiao’s training there. They want to control the traffic that flows through the gym in order to let Pacquiao focus entirely on getting ready for the fight without the interruptions. Ideally, Pacquiao needs to be training in Big Bear, California. That would enable Pacquiao to be isolated from the fans and the huge crowds that Roach’s gym tends to attract.

Roach doesn’t have a gym at Big Bear, but it would be to his benefit to get one so that fighters like Pacquiao can have less distractions while getting ready for his fights.



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