By John F. McKenna (McJack): Five time trainer of the year Freddie Roach is pleased with what he saw when he arrived in Baguio City the other day to begin working with Filipino icon WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s).

Pacquiao began training in earnest on April 17 at Baguio but he had started training ahead of schedule, even before leaving for training camp. During Holy week Manny was already at it with longtime friend and Roach’s assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez.

Roach was quoted in The Ring saying the following:

“Now I believe what I’ve been reading. Manny was working hard in training before I got here.”

Pacquiao will be squaring off against undefeated WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0-1, 12 KO’s) on June 9 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. “Pacman” is coming off of a hotly disputed decision victory over WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) last November. Many boxing observers feel that Manny received a gift decision in his win over Marquez.

Pacquiao had a life changing religious experience after the Marquez fight. He has since given up late night partying, drinking, gambling and womanizing. Many attribute Manny’s poor performance against Marquez to alleged marital strife between him and his wife Jinkee over his extra curricular activities.

This is Pacquiao’s first training camp since he turned his life around and Manny says that he feels re-energized. Roach for his part has been impressed by what he has seen in the initial stages of Pacquiao’s training camp, most notably Manny’s speed, power and movement. Pacquiao will leave for Los Angeles during the first week in May where he will complete his training camp at Freddie Roach’s famed Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California.

Many boxing observers are giving Bradley a very good chance to pull off an upset against “Pacman”. They base their observations solely on Manny’s poor performance against Marquez. It should be noted however that all great fighters from the past including Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler had fights they would have liked to have forgotten and they came back from those fights.

It may be that Pacquio’s fight with Marquez served as a wake up call which set him back on track. In any case his bout with Bradley should demonstrate whether or not the Marquez fight was an aberration, or whether “Pacman” is in fact on the downward slope of his illustrious career.