Bowler Shane gears up to topple boxing kingpin

MANILA, Philippines - If Manny Pacquiao is into basketball, Shane Mosley is into bowling.

As he prepares for the May 7 showdown with the Filipino champion, Mosley is taking time out of his normal routine toppling those pins.

An article that came out of the Asian Correspondent website said there’s a reason why the 39-year-old American is into bowling.

“He plays bowling in Big Bear’s barns and alleys to tighten his uppercuts,” said the article.

Mosley thinks that bowling strengthens his posterior shoulder down to his muscles on his forearms, and that it revitalizes his reflexes.

This way, Mosley can “execute effective counter-punching and uppercuts.”

Pacquiao learned about it and said Mosley can do whatever he wants.

“We have our own ways of cross-training. Aside from boxing, we do other stuff. If it’s bowling for him, it’s basketball for me. We have our own style,” said Pacquiao.

Mosley trains at the Big Bear Camp in California, and is hoping that everything he does will serve him well against the hard-hitting Pacquiao.

The 32-year-old pound-for-pound champion from the Philippines is now in Los Angeles, training behind closed doors at the Wild Card Gym.

Heavy days of sparring are in store for Pacquiao starting today.

It also means that Pacquiao’s days playing basketball are over, because there’s an agreement between him and his chief trainer, Freddie Roach, that basketball is out four weeks to the fight.

Even when in Los Angeles, Pacquiao sneaks out of his schedule to play a few rounds of basketball, which he said keeps him in shape, his weight and agility in check.

Pacquiao has also been introduced to swimming as part of his cross-training, but the fighting congressman is not just into it.

He said he’s not into bowling as well.