We just recently saw the first episode of the much anticipated series Cotto/Pacquiao 24/7 an inside look of fight camp.  We saw a telling picture of the lives of the boxers outside the ring in their native environments Puerto Rico and the Philippines.  Possibly the most interesting part of the show was when another typhoon was about to make land fall in Pacquiaos homeland, we learn Roach wanted out.  Click for More

 

Freddy Roach: “Manny I think if we stay here we have a chance of getting stuck here”

Manny Pacquiao: “Or we can do it tomorrow, we can sleep tonight now”

Freddy Roach: “The longer we stay, the more chance we have for this storm to take over” Manny was content to stay a while longer.  This came to a boiling point where Freddy Roach walks over to Manny Pacquiao while having lunch and tells him:

“I’m going to go, cause I’m not getting stuck up here…we have to go, sorry to interrupt.”
“I got pissed and told Manny, ‘if you don’t want me to be part of this deal, I quit,’ but he called me to please calm down, so I did.”

It was obvious Freddy Roach was never really comfortable in this training environment and was looking for a way back to the comfortable confines of California.  It appeared as though he had enough of the rain, weather and environment he wanted to get back home.  

Freddy Roach who has been used to working at the Wild Card Gym in Southern California this time was thousands of miles away from his comfort zone.  As you may remember in other 24/7 shows, he’s used to walking a few steps into the gym from his home in sunny California.  Will the typhoon in any way affect the preparations of Manny Pacquiao?  

For one Manny Pacquiao is a professional with a strong work ethic.  He's an athlete in awesome physical shape who has been playing basketball like he’s Michael Jordan.  The typhoons did play a role in some outdoor cardio training and mentally preparing for the bout.  In this case however, it will allow Pacquiao to work harder as “the Peoples Champ” and as he said, “the fight will be dedicated to the people suffering in the typhoon.”  By contrast, Cotto is styaing in a huge Mansion in Tampa Florida with his team setup with BBQ, chairs and outdoor pool.  As Marvalous Hagler once said, "It's hard to get up at 5:00 in the morning, when you wear silk pajamas."  

The fight is now three weeks away and Pacquiao has already arrived in California.  Time is still on his side to fine tune any training for the showdown come Nov 14th.  If Manny does lose and that’s a big IF, like a true champ that he is, Manny will not be putting any blame on a typhoon.  Instead, he will be ready to pack a typhoon punch of his own. 

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