Manny Pacquiao (Photo : AFP/Getty Images)
With less than a month to go before Manny Pacquiao heads off to Los Angeles for the second part of his fight preparations for his rubber match against American Timothy Bradley, the Filipino ring icon appears on track based on his training in General Santos City.
Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KO's) takes on Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KO's) for the third time, April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In their first encounter, Pacquiao lost a shock split decision to Bradley in what is widely considered one of the most controversial decisions in the sport's history. In the rematch, Pacquiao outboxed Bradley to claim victory.
With the premise for the third bout set, both Pacquiao and Bradley are hard at work preparing to put on a show.
Pacquiao is currently at his home in General Santos with head coach Freddie Roach and assistant coach Buboy Fernandez.
While Roach expressed his concern over Pacquiao's form early in training camp, the eight-division world champion seems to have picked up the pace and is now zipping powerful lead lefts and rights targeting Roach's punch mitts.
Early last month, controversy hit Pacquiao when a report depicted him expressing anti-gay remarks. The news hit the fan when Nike, one of Pacquiao's multimillion-dollar endorsers dropped him as a client.
The Bradley bout was already a hard sell, but this incident only made matters worse.
Bradley, who is working with new trainer Teddy Atlas, may see this as an opportunity to catch Pacquiao as he is distracted with out-of-the-ring issues.
In his last two bouts, Bradley edged out recently minted WBO welterweight champion Jesse Vargas, and stopped previously unstopped Brandon Rios, sending the latter to retirement. The California native has looked spectacular as of late, with credit going to Atlas for breathing new life into the former champion's career.
Pacquiao however, is 37 years old and is on the tail-end of a long and fruitful career. He's currently eyeing a seat at the Philippine senate and will exchange the boxing gloves for a full-time political career after the Bradley bout. This bout, Pacquiao insists, will be his last as a professional boxer.
