Pacquiao upbeat on final day of workout

LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao can’t wait to get his hands on Hector Velazquez.

"Excited na ako," he said at the Wild Card Gym Thursday afternoon after he closed out his one-month training for his scheduled 12-round fight against Velazquez on Saturday.

Pacquiao held a very light workout on his final day at the Hollywood gym, pounding the punch-mitts for just a couple of rounds and limbering up for nearly an hour.

Before leaving the gym, Pacquiao brought out a bundle of his personalized t-shirts and had them distributed to the Wild Card regulars who were around.

He drew a big round of applause as he left the gym where his training regimen has been the yardstick to his fellow boxers here.

"I’m impressed," said his chief trainer, American Freddie Roach, who believes that the Gen. Santos City native couldn’t have worked harder in the 30 days he was at the gym.

He sparred a total of 95 rounds and for a time doing a dozen in one day against four different boxers.

"Nobody works harder than Manny," said one of his lawyers, Keith Davidson. — Abac Cordero