Manny resumes heavy training

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao plunged back into training in Baguio City yesterday while Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain, who was thousands of miles away, bared his thoughts on how the Filipino pound-for-pound champion would hit Miguel Cotto “like a rocket” on Nov. 14.

Pacquiao entered his third week of training in the country’s summer capital, which was pummelled by typhoon “Pepeng” over the weekend, by doing 15 rounds of mitts with Freddie Roach and some plyometric exercises with his conditioning coach, Alex Ariza.

Pacquiao broke camp Saturday evening after sparring five rounds with Shawn Porter and Urbano Antillon. He braved the storm to take a 250-km ride to Manila and personally help distribute relief goods to victims of last week’s tropical storm “Ondoy” the other day.

Pacquiao and his entourage were back in Baguio close to midnight of Sunday. It took them longer than usual to get there because, according to one of his bodyguards, Jojo Sta. Teresa, there was “zero visibility” on the zig-zagging, cliff-hanging roads up to Baguio.

At the Shape Up Gym, it was business as usual yesterday it looked like the mitts on Roach’s hands were ready to explode.

Pacquiao resumes his sparring today with Porter and Antillon. Another sparringmate, former WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, is scheduled to fly in today to provide the extra muscle in the Pinoy icon’s camp six weeks heading to the fight on Nov. 14.

Meanwhile, Beristain, the future Hall-of-Fame trainer from Mexico, gave ESPN’s Spanish TV program “Golpe a Golpe” (Blow by Blow) a big hint of things to come when Pacquiao and Cotto dispute the WBO welterweight crown at a catchweight of 145 lb.

Beristain, who trained Juan Manuel Marquez in his two fights with Pacquiao, is on the side of the Filipino southpaw.

“His left hand is like a missile, like a rocket, it has tremendous speed and his power is tremendous. The key to the fight is not only Pacquiao’s speed but is also the fact that he has been better with his technique,” he said.

“He is a technical fighter now with speed and power, and that Pacquiao is very difficult to beat. If it was difficult before, imagine now, Cotto will be in a world of trouble when he steps in the ring with Manny, besides that, I don’t think he recovered from the beating Margarito gave him, I think Pacquiao will win this fight.”

Beristain also shared his thoughts on Roach’s importance to Pacquiao, even if an Internet article that came out yesterday talked about one member of Team Pacquiao saying it may be time for the 30-year-old Pacquiao to dump Roach.

“I think Pacquiao is lucky to have him in his corner, Freddie Roach is one of the best trainers in the world and he has a lot of knowledge and he has made Pacquiao a better fighter who used to have a lot of flaws in his style. Pacquiao used to jump when throwing punches and now he is doing great from a technical point of view and that is Freddie’s work,” said Beristain.