Manny wraps up sparring Monday

Two-time world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao will end his sparring sessions Monday at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles then head for Las Vegas by car to keep his 12-round appointment with Erik Morales on March 19 (Sunday morning, Manila).

Pacquiao will arrive in the gambling capital a day before Morales planes in from Mexico.

Trainer Freddie Roach usually schedules sparring for Pacquiao on Tuesdays (eight rounds), Thursdays (10 rounds) and Saturdays (12 rounds). But Pacquiao often exceeds the limit to stay in razor-sharp condition.

The final session on Monday is out of the ordinary. Roach, no doubt, wants Pacquiao to wrap up his Los Angeles training in fighting form. Pacquiao will have logged at least 150 rounds of sparring when he tapers off.

Roach said the other day Pacquiao had already trimmed down to 129 pounds which he expects to scale at the weigh-in on the eve of the fight. He added that going the full route won’t be a problem for Pacquiao, allaying fears of a possible burnout.

It will be Pacquiao’s first fight in the superfeatherweight or junior lightweight division where the limit is 130 pounds. The most Pacquiao has weighed for a bout was 127 pounds when he stopped Serikzhan Yeshmangbetov of Kazakhstan two years ago. Pacquiao was decked by a right hook in the fourth round before finishing off Yeshmangbetov in the fifth.

In contrast, Morales has fought as a superfeatherweight in his last four outings dating back to his third round stoppage of Guty Espadas, Jr. in October 2003.

Five Filipinos reigned as superfeatherweight champions in the past–Flash Elorde (1960-67), Rene Barrientos (1969-70), Ben Villaflor (1972-73, 1973-76), Rolando Navarrete (1981-82) and Joselito Rivera (2000).

No title will be at stake in the Pacquiao-Morales bout although it is scheduled for 12 rounds as a pay-per-view event.

Pacquiao’s manager Shelly Finkel recently said a title is almost meaningless in the fight game today as a boxer’s marketability depends on his ability to draw fans, not on the belt that he wears or doesn’t wear.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao is expected to attend a boxing show featuring his General Santos City boyhood pal Vernie (Tornado) Torres and jogging partner Gerry (Young Terror) Balagbagan at the Grand Olympic Auditorium this Saturday (Sunday morning, Manila).

Pacquiao and Torres were on the same slow boat to Manila in 1994 when they were wide-eyed teeners dreaming of fame and fortune in the big city. Balagbagan, who lives in Pensacola, Florida, with his American wife Amy, was invited by Pacquiao to join his training entourage. Torres, now an evangelist, lives in Pensacola with his Filipina wife.

Torres, 30, takes on Salvador (Diablito) Casillas of Mexico in a 10-round superflyweight bout while Balagbagan, 32, faces Jose (El Tigre) Mendiola, also of Mexico, in a 10-round middleweight contest.

Torres hasn’t fought since outpointing Miguel del Valle to win the vacant United States Boxing Association superflyweight crown in Las Vegas in November 2003. His record is 26-6, with 15 KOs. He migrated to the US in 1999.