Pacquiao Suffering from Leg Cramps, Roach taking Precautions

By Raj Parmar - 03/27/2015 - Comments

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By Raj Parmar: As Manny Pacquiao trains for the fight of his life against pound for pound number one Floyd Mayweather Jr on May 2nd, an old problem has come lurking back. Known to have suffered from leg cramps throughout his career, Pacquiao is once again feeling the effects of his legs stiffening up on him as he attempts to get himself into top shape for May 2nd.

Trainer Freddie Roach is altering Manny’s training camp around this problem in order to avoid major leg cramp flare-ups as they head into the homestretch towards the showdown with Mayweather. Instead of running up the high hills in the LA area as per his normal routine, Manny will now do his running at the more forgiving running track at UCLA.

“We did change his running schedule because I don’t like him running the hills six days a week,” Roach said to Yahoo Sports, “I think it’s better for the older fighters sometimes to stay away from the hills so much. When he was young, it was OK, but he’s getting a little older and the wear and tear of going up that hill, which is all concrete, is really not good for his legs.”

Roach has also implemented a couple more precautions to ensure the leg cramps do not affect training camp in major way. He has arranged for Manny’s legs to be massaged regularly and also ordered expensive anti-inflammatory creams to help Pacquiao stay pain-free. Freddie was sure to run the cream by USADA, who is handling the drug testing for the fight.

“We’re doing what we can do. I’ve got the doctors working on it,” Roach stated, “There are some Filipino guys here who are massaging it for him. The cream cost $1,800 for a single bottle. I wasn’t too happy about that.”

Although leg cramps are nothing new for Manny, this fight is of a much bigger magnitude than any fight Manny has ever been in and the training for it is definitely much more intense and critical than his other training camps. Therefore any negative effects the leg cramps have on Manny during this critical training phase is definitely a big cause for concern for those involved on Manny’s team, no matter how minimal the issue may seem.

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