Pacquiao nears peak form for Hoya bout

With just under seven weeks left before the big fight, Manny Pacquiao is slowly but surely getting close to perfection.

“Right now I would say he’s 75 percent ready,” said Roach over the phone the other day when asked about his ward’s readiness for the Dec. 6 showdown with Oscar dela Hoya.

“Manny’s conditioning is very good. His weight is very good. He’s been running well. His times have been better than the previous ones. And he’s very focused.”

Pacquiao is into his first week of sparring at the Wild Card Gym, and last Thursday he sent 5-foot-10 light-middleweight Aaron Robinson packing. Roach said the American almost quit after only three rounds of sparring with Pacquiao.

Pacquiao has been working hard at the gym for two weeks now, doing an average of 34 rounds of three minutes each on the mitts, heavy, speed and double-end bags, ropes and shadow boxing.

He runs every morning, taking on a flat course on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, which are sparring days, and tackling a very demanding uphill course at Griffith Park on non-sparring days, including Sundays.

Lately, Pacquiao has also spent more time working on his famous six-pack (around 2,000 crunches daily), and some secret form of exercises that would help him build a 147-pound body without losing his speed.

Roach also has trainers Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri, Alex Ariza and Eric Brown on hand. A former Dela Hoya ring opponent, German middleweight Felix Sturm, is reportedly coming in to help out the team.

Everything seems to be working out fine.

Roach has often said that he’d never seen any boxer work and train as hard as Pacquiao.

“He’s just unbelievable. So, we’re getting there,” the two-time Trainer of the Year said.

Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez said Dela Hoys is so focused training at his Big Bear camp that the multi-division champion is not concerned with anything Pacquiao and Roach are doing.

“It doesn’t matter what they do in the gym. What matters is what they do that night. Oscar’s concentrating on what he’s going to do. If you start thinking of what the other guy is doing it kinda screws you up,” Gomez told Sports Chat radio program.

Gomez was referring to the training stunts put up by Team Pacquiao — a picture of Dela Hoya’s face being plastered in the middle of the body protector, which Roach wears when he’s working the mitts with Pacquiao.

“Obviously Oscar believes he is fighting one of the best southpaws in the history of boxing in Manny Pacquiao. You can put Manny’s name up there with Marvin Hagler,“ Gomez added.

“You’re dealing with an Oscar now that’s not in his prime. He’s still good and he can still compete at a high level but he’s not in his prime anymore. Oscar’s preparing to fight the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”