Pacquiao starts US training vs Marquez
MANILA, Philippines - Freddie Roach had previously offered $1,000 to anyone who could knock Manny Pacquiao down or out in sparring.
This time, Roach is taking a different approach. Instead, he is offering Pacquiao $1,000 if he can knock any of his sparring partners down.
Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles yesterday morning (Saturday evening in LA) for the final phase of his preparations for his Dec. 8 showdown with Juan Manuel Marquez.
The Filipino boxing icon, coming off a controversial loss to American Tim Bradley last June, spent the first three weeks training in his home province of General Santos City.
The original plan was for Pacquiao to train the whole eight weeks at the Wild Card Gym.
But it didn’t’ happen.
It was the first time Pacquiao spent the first few weeks of his training away from the eyes of his chief trainer although he insisted that everything went well in General Santos City.
Pacquiao said he worked as hard under his buddy Buboy Fernandez and Roger Fernandez, and that he could begin sparring this week if Roach wants him to.
Roach said the doors to his gym will be closed every minute Pacquiao is inside training.
Roach is not worried at all that Pacquiao came in a couple of weeks behind their normal schedule. In an attempt to fire up his fighter he came up with the offer.
“This camp I will pull a switch. I will offer Manny $1,000 out of my own pocket every time he knocks a sparmate on his a**,” Roach was quoted by Michael Marley of The Examiner.
In previous camps, Pacquiao has given his sparring partners a taste of hell with a couple of them getting off the ring with a bloody nose.
Of course, Roach wouldn’t mind losing a few thousand bucks in this camp.
Pacquiao Eager To See Roach
Manny Pacquiao will prove to Freddie Roach on Monday in Los Angeles that he wasn't pulling his leg when the Filipino star told him he was training like hell in General Santos City the past few weeks.
Pacquiao was set to leave late last night via Philippine Airlines for the most crucial stage of his training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood after delaying it for three weeks. A private plane owned by Ilocos Sur Gov. Chavit Singson was scheduled to ferry Pacquiao to Manila in time for the PAL flight.
But Team Pacquiao members believe Roach will be surprised to see a Pacquiao who's already in fine form.
Roach has lined up a solid cast of sparring partners, not exactly clones of Juan Manuel Marquez, but close enough to resemble the style of the Mexican counter-puncher Pacquiao is facing for the fourth time on Dec. 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao, who turns 34 on Dec. 17, had opened training camp in Baguio since 2009 and it was a surprise to many why he opted to stay close to home.
Still, Pacquiao assured everyone that his decision to stage the first phase of his buildup won't affect his training.
"I have been doing well in training here in General Santos City," said Pacquiao, who is aching to storm back after being robbed off a win against Tim Bradley last June.
Pacquiao and Roach are going for a knockout win to prove once and for all that he remains the superior fighter and not Marquez, who remains a superbly-conditioned athlete even at 39 years.
Girlfriend had to take knife from my hands - Hatton
Former world champion Ricky Hatton poses for a picture in Hong Kong in April 2012. …
Ricky Hatton has revealed how close he came to suicide during his three-year break from boxing, as he prepares to relaunch his career with a fight next month.
The 34-year-old, who won world titles at both welterweight and light-welterweight, slipped into depression after a brutal second-round knockout by Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao in his last fight in May 2009.
He has revealed that, during the worst bouts of the illness, his girlfriend had to take a knife from him to stop him hurting himself.
"I was near to a nervous breakdown; depression, suicidal," he told BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday.
"Most mornings my girlfriend would have to come downstairs and take a knife out of my hand. I had a knife at my wrists, I was in a really bad way, just hysterically crying for no reason.
"I've always liked a little bit of a drink, but my drinking had gone way off the Richter scale. I was having black-outs.
"And even if I was stone cold sober, I was trying to kill myself. The real lowest point was when my little girl came along, who is one-year-old now.
"(Hatton's son) Campbell had the misfortune to see his dad in such a bad way. I am not going to do it any more to my kids and I'm not going to put my family though it any more."
Hatton will return to the ring against Vyacheslav Senchenko of Ukraine at the Manchester Evening News Arena on November 24.
A much-loved figure in Great Britain during the first part of his career, Hatton admitted his defeats at the hands of Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather left him feeling like a "failure".
"I feel sad because I feel ashamed of myself," he said.
"It doesn't matter how many people say, 'Ricky, everyone has problems and you got beaten by Mayweather and Pacquiao, who are the two best fighters of our generation. You did the country proud.'
"That's very kind of people to say, but they don't have to deal with this little fella who sits on my shoulder every day telling me that I'm a failure and I've let my family and my fans down and British sport, British boxing, down.
"I feel a failure and it doesn't matter how many people say, 'Don't be too hard on yourself.' That's how I feel and that's how I'm coming back. I feel I've got to redeem myself."
Mexican Diaz claims WBC belt
Gamaliel Diaz jabbed his way to a unanimous points' decision win over title-holder Takahiro Aoh in Tokyo to become the new World Boxing Council super featherweight champion on Saturday.
The three judges counted it 114-112, 114-112 and 115-111 all in favour of the Mexican challenger.
"My dream came true for the first time in three attempts. I was calm from the very first round. I received a heavy punch several times, but (Aoh) was incapable of knocking me out," said Diaz.
The 31-year-old, in his third attempt at a world title, got off to a good start, unleashing a couple of right straights to the face of the home man, and added another punishing series in the second round.
He was given a one-point penalty for intentional butting in the third round, drawing blood from Aoh's right eyebrow, but Diaz was always on top.
A low blow in the fifth round saw him docked another point.
But the Japanese Aoh was never able to fend off Diaz's highly effective right jabs, as the belt slipped away from him.
Diaz, ranked fourth in the WBC, improved his record to 37 wins, including 17 KOs, against nine defeats and two draws.
It was a fourth defence of the title for Aoh, 28, who saw his record reduced to 23 wins, including 10 KOs, against three defeats and a draw.
"I wasn't strong enough to beat him. I grew intense after my sight became worse. I tried to move forward, but I lost the balance of my feelings and my fists," said Aoh.
LeBron's Heat, Kobe's Lakers favored as season opens
Getty Images/Getty Images - ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 07: Chris Bosh #1, LeBron James #6, Ray Allen #34 and Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat watch the game against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena on October
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