Roach Will Try To Get Andre Berto For Pacquiao Sparring

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has confirmed that his prized possession, pound-for-pound superstar Manny Pacquiao, will train in Baguio City for his March 13 megabuck clash with former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Conditioning expert Alex Ariza who has teamed up with trainer Freddie Roach to develop Pacquiao into a devastating punching machine since the David Diaz WBC lightweight title fight said he had talked about the training camp with Roach and they agreed that Pacquiao was “in the best mood and that was the best camp that we’ve had minus some of the distractions.”

Ariza said that whatever makes Pacquiao happy is fine with him even as he recalled that in his last training camp for the Miguel Cotto fight “he got up earlier than I’ve ever seen him get up that he does here in Los Angeles. I saw him train harder. I would be ecstatic if he chose to train up there.”

The Philippines refreshingly cool summer capital “didn’t provide that much distractions and he had maybe one or two off-days but there were extenuating circumstances for those off days but other than that it was as perfect a camp as we’ve ever had. I’d like to see the same thing happen.”

Although he would have to leave his mother and other members of his family in Los Angeles Ariza said he would go along “with what’s best for Manny and we are going to have a real good, strong and focused camp.”

He revealed that among Pacquiao’s sparring partners will be reigning WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan who defended his title last Saturday with a brutal 77 second stoppage of previously unbeaten mandatory challenger Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle, England.

He said there was a possibility of getting Andre Berto who is scheduled to face Sugar Shane Mosley in January, also as a sparring partner.

Ariza felt that the battle with Mayweather “is not going to be so much a fight of conditioning and strength and power. This is going to be Freddie Roach at his best, coming up with strategic plans and Manny having to execute them.”

Source: boxingscene.com