Pacquiao extends Gen San training

MANILA, Philippines - Top Rank chief Bob Arum is feeling a little edgy following reports that Manny Pacquiao has decided to extend his training in General Santos City.

According to www.philboxing.com, Pacquiao has postponed his trip to Los Angeles to Oct. 27, leaving him with only five weeks to train at the Wild Card Gym.

Pacquiao originally planned to leave for LA yesterday so he could start training under Freddie Roach on Monday for his Dec. 8 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.

However, a report came out yesterday saying the Filipino boxer will extend his training in General Santos City under Buboy Fernandez.

But Pacquiao’s legal counsel, Franklin Gacal, said the fighting congressman is leaving for LA tomorrow.

“Monday daw,” said Gacal, just the same hoping that the boxing superstar, who has his “itinerary written in chalk,” leaves tomorrow.

Pacquiao has been working out at the People’s Champ Gym for more than a week now, with road work in the morning and gym sessions in the afternoon. 

Marquez, on the other hand, is into high-altitude training in Nevado de Toluca in Mexico, chopping wood and hammering old tires in some form of old-school training.

Arum was reportedly “peeved” by Pacquiao’s decision to postpone his trip to LA because there are activities lined up for him as part of the promotion.

Boxing analyst Ronnie Nathanielsz, who is in the United States, wrote that Pacquiao’s adviser, Mike Koncz, is trying to convince Pacquiao to reconsider.

At the latest, Arum wants Pacquiao to be in LA by Oct. 20.

Arum may have suspected that Pacquiao’s decision has something to do with politics. In May next year, the Filipino superstar will seek a second term as congressman in Sarangani.

His wife, Jinkee, has also thrown her hat into the political ring, and will run as vice governor of Sarangani.

Pacquiao’s younger brother, Roel, is running as congressman in South Cotabato while Gacal is running as councilor. Another Pacquiao buddy, Wakee Salud, is running as mayor of Cordova in Cebu.

“Manny has to decide whether he is a boxer or he’s a politician. I would like for the next two months for him to be a boxer and then the politics will take care of itself when he finishes the fight with Marquez. But that’s up to him,” Arum told www.philboxing.com.

While things may be doing well with his training in General Santos City, there’s nothing like being at the Wild Card Gym and under the watchful eyes of Freddie Roach.

Pacquiao is reportedly happy with his training under Fernandez because there are “less distractions” in his home province.

Over the last couple of years, Pacquiao had trained at least three weeks in Baguio City before moving to LA. But for this one, he decided to skip Baguio, saying he’d rather train the whole eight weeks at the Wild Card Gym.