October 16 - 31 , 2016 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY A21
With no less than two months of preparation behind him , Filipino fighter cum public servant Manny Pacquiao enters the final leg of his build Monday ( Tuesday in Manila ) in Los Angeles towards challenging Mexican- American Jessie Vargas for the latter ’ s World Boxing Organization welterweight title .
Pacquiao , who will be facing Vargas in his comeback fight six months after announcing a self-imposed retirement and his team flew in in the world ’ s entertainment capital last Saturday following
Not bad at all .
That ’ s how Deedee Macaraig summarizes his son ’ s performance in the recently-concluded 2016 Buccaneer International Invitational Swimming Championships held in Tokyo , Japan .
While gaining much needed exposure from this kind of competition , Angelo Macaraig learned a lot that that would help him hone his skills in the future .
The 12-year – old pride the opening stop of finetuning that started August 23 .
If he will have his way , Pacquiao will be scaling the scenic Griffith Park , his favorite running venue , in the early morning session then do the mitts with chief trainer Freddie Roach later in the day .
Sparring resumes Tuesday , Thursday and Saturday although on a lighter load than the 10- round skirmish he ended up his Manila camp Saturday afternoon , hours before boarding a Philippine Airlines
of Coquitlam , BC finished 8th and 11th in 50 m backstroke and 50 m breaststroke , respectively , in the two-day swim meet held at St Mary ’ s International School aquatic centre .
In 100 m individual medley , Angelo ruled the heat and surpassed his seed time by six seconds en route to finishing a time of 1:21 , good enough for 9th overall .
The son of Deeedee and Criselyn continues to work hard in the second day , as he helped the Philippine Swimming League ( PSL ) team won the heat and snatched the bronze overall in the 200 m freestyle relay .
Angelo ’ s dad reiterates that tons of lesson was
Pacquiao starts training in L . A .
flight that brought him and his team to the United States .
Pacquiao and the training team , also made up of assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez , Nonoy Neri and Roger “ Haplas ” Fernandez , along with Roach expressed satisfaction on the outcome of the Manila leg of preparations despite a few glitches that accompanied the program .
Along the way , there was Pacquiao ’ s duty as an elected Philippine senator that somehow intervened in his preparations . Then the mental and physical fatigue that caused the ‘ Fighter of the Decade ’ to catch cold that led to the cancellation of several training sessions .
All of his men , in fact , and this includes principal sparring mate Jose Ramirez , expressed belief that the camp attained its intended purpose when they left Manila .
“ We ’ re ready to fight ,” pronounced
learned from this two-day competition .
“ We were given the opportunity to compete . What Angelo has done wasn ’ t enough to be at par with other competitors ,” Deedee says . “ He ( Angelo ) gave his best .
The supportive father of Angelo fully emphasized that his son needs to improve on upper body and strength .
“ We know now what to do next ,” he adds .
Overall , it was a weekend of fun and exciting experience for the young tanker , who gets to compete for the first time in the international stage .
Angelo received a plaque after his team landed in second place and also took a bunch of ribbon for his splendid performance .
The PSL squad took home 14 gold and 12 bronze for a total of 26 medals at the conclusion of this year ’ s edition of international swim
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Roach as early as two days before departure in a statement echoed by Buboy and company , including strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune , who left Manila five days ahead , believing that , indeed , the soon-to-be 38 year old eightdivision champ had already reached his peak that early .
Pacquiao thought so , too , when he told reporters upon arrival in L . A . he ’ s ready to trade punches with “ anybody anytime .” And why not ? After logging some 78 rounds in sparring , four rounds starting September 22 against local juniorwelterweight contender
‘ Aqua Boy ’ gains exposure from int ’ l swim fest By Alex Mino
meet .
After the competition , Angelo , together with his dad and mom explore the scenic spot of Japan , specifically ,
By : Julian Ray Fortaleza
Leonardo Doronio who was joined by Ramirez a week later upon his and Roach ’ s arrival in Manila , who wouldn ’ t believe Pacquiao is not ready to reclaim the 147-pound crown he held twice before ?
Add the more than 100 rounds of hitting the mitts with Buboy and Roach and , indeed , the four-division lineal champion is ready with still two weeks into his scheduled encounter with Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center inside the UNLV campus .
* Photos of Pacquiao running in Griffith Park and training at the Wild Card Gym by Wendell Alinea / OSMP .
Tokyo Disneyland and hop on a Bullet Train on the way to Osaka .
Answers from last week ’ s issue
1 . UFC 2015 will feature 3 championship fights 2 . BJ Penn and Randy Couture have both held a UFC title in a different division . 3 . Luis Smolka will face Ray Borg in his next fight
New Questions
1 . How many championship fights will happen at Pacquiao vs . Vargas ? 2 . How many fighters have held multiple UFC championships in more than 1 division ? 3 . Who will Nonito Donaire fight in his next bout ?