Manny Pacquiao primed for fight against Brandon Rios

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The road to redemption started this week for both Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao and American Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios protagonists in a 12-round rumble on Sunday in Macau in their efforts to erase the stigma of separate defeats they suffered in their previous fights.

While the weekend confrontation is a vehicle for both Pacquiao and Rios in their bid to bounce back from previous losses, it holds more significant for the Filipino eight-division champion as it might decide where his successful colorful 18-year fighting career is headed to.

A loss, according to many, may signal his eventual retirement, which Pacquiao refuted in an earlier interview with this writer saying, win or lose hanging up his gloves this early is far from his mind.

“How can I retire when I’m not even thinking of losing?” he assured during that one-on-one interview two weeks ago.

A declaration he reaffirmed after his short sparring session yesterday morning at the Pacman Wild Card Gym here where he proclaimed to be ready for the nettle ahead.

“Ready na tayo,” he said. “Pagdating sa Macau, konting ensayo na lang ang kailangan. As we’ve been saying, maganda ang camp and after only three weeks in the camp, na-recover na yung mga nawala because of a long, almost a year layoff.”

Trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Gavin MacMillan confirmed their pupil’s pronouncement.

“Manny’s ready, physically, and mentally,” they chorused.

“A week before the fight, we will just be doing light sessions in both the road and the gym aimed at maintaining and further polishing what we’ve gained from the camp,” Roach said. “It will mostly be conditioning and stamina.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, reiterated his desire to dedicate the fight to countrymen affected by super typhoon “Yolanda”.

“Like in all my previous fights, I am dedicating this to our country and people, especially those in the Visayas and some parts of Mindanao who suffered and still reeling from the effects of disasters that hit the country,” Pacquiao said.

“Sabihin mo sa ating mga kababayan na ang nangyaring kalamidad ay lalong makapagbibigay sa akin ng ibayong lakas para sikapin ko na maipanalo ang labang ito,” he said. “While I am sad leaving them while they’re suffering, gagawin ko ito para na rin sa kanila at sa ating bayan.

“Babangon ako sa nakaraang pagkatalo upang bigyan din ang ating mga kababayan ng motivation para makabangon din sa masaklap na kapalarang dinanas at dinananas pa nila dahil sa lindol at bagyong tumama sa ating kapuluan.

“Wala man ako dito sa darating na linggo, iniwan ko naman ang ilan sa aking staff upang gawin ang lahat ng ating magagawa para makatulong.”

Pacquiao and his team left on Monday aboard a180-seat Philippine Airlines chartered flight to that Chinese sin city following a long 10-week preparations at the Pacman Wild Card Gym, his version of the world famous sweat shop owned by his trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles.

Rios and his party, headed by trainer 2012 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia, have been in Macau a week ahead to acclimatize himself to the city’s weather and get use to the unfamiliar time difference between the U.S. and the world’s largest continent.

Members of the Pacquiao clan, including his estranged parents – Rosalio and Dionisia, and those of his wife Jinkee – team members Roach, conditioning coach Gavin MacMillan, assistant trainers Marvin Somodio, Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri and Roger “Haplas” Fernandez, staff members and plain kibitzers were among those who boarded the 3 p.m. flight.

The week-long boxing festival, the biggest to be staged in Macau owing to the fighters’ statures, opens Tuesday with the Grand Arrival ceremonies at the Corte Cochere of the Venetian Resort Hotel where the fight venue Cotai Arena is located.