By Dave Lahr: Manny Pacquiao has lost hand speed in bulking up for his November 13th fight against Antonio Margarito. The added muscle that Pacquiao had put on to fight Margarito at the 151 catch weight, has left Pacquiao in need of hand speed. Pacquiao says “Speed is my key,” in an article at Philippine Daily Inquirer. Pacquiao says he was working “on building up my body and my muscles so I would be strong. It reduced my speed, which I am concentrating on now.” This reminds me of what happened to Juan Manuel Marquez when he gained weight to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.

Marquez was so focused on gaining weight that he forgot all about his hand speed until it was too late to do anything about it. Pacquiao is working now with a little less than a month to go before the fight. Pacquiao might end up wasting his time and losing the weight that he gained in the first place to have the bulk to compete with Margarito. You can’t have both. It’s either he’s going to be small and fast or he’ll be big and slow. It’s just no humanly possible to work on speed without trimming off useless muscle.

I can already smell an excuse coming for Pacquiao when he gets beaten by Margarito. Instead of just admitting that he got whipped by Margarito, Pacquiao and/or his trainer Freddie Roach may end up complaining about his loss of speed through the bulking up process. God, I hope Pacquiao doesn’t start with the excuses after he loses. The last thing I want to hear is Pacquiao crying over the weight that he put on. He’s already got a nice catch weight handicap working for him in this fight with the 151 pound catch weight that Antonio Margarito has to melt down to. What more does Pacquiao want?

Also, according to Ronnie Nathanielsz at inquirer.net, Pacquiao was practicing with his hand for a concert he plans on doing after his fight in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. What is up with that? Instead of training like a dog to somehow find his lost hand speed, Pacquiao is spending valuable time with his band. What a waste. This is like playing basketball. This is a total of waste of time for Pacquiao. Instead of practicing his crooning, Pacquiao needs to be working on how to keep from getting knocked out by Margarito. I don’t know why he likes to sing after his fights. He probably won’t be able to if Margarito whips him bad enough, and busts up his lips and knocks out some teeth. Pacquiao needs to focus on his priorities. Singing is something you do when you’re not fighting. Instead of practicing with his band, Pacquiao needs to be training so he doesn’t look so haggard like he did against Joshua Clottey.