MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao went five rounds with two different sparmates yesterday and left his trainer Freddie Roach even more confident as they head to the biggest challenge of their lives.
Roach thinks that May 2 will be remembered in his history as the day Pacquiao “drove Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of boxing.”
Roach has lined up a battery of sparring partners for Pacquiao, and the trainer of champions threw two of them atop the Wild Card ring yesterday.
Pacquiao, according to Top Rank publicist Fred Sternburg, impressed everybody who was around for the closed-door session that lasted over two hours.
“Manny looked so fresh today. I’m very happy with what he showed me,” said Roach, predicting that Pacquiao will knock Mayweather out on May 2 at the MGM Grand.
“You couldn’t tell he had been away from the ring since the (Chris) Algieri fight in November. Manny is on fire in the gym,” he added.
It was “five hard rounds,” according to Sternburg, who follows Pacquiao every step of the way each time he prepares for a fight.
Pacquiao arrived in the United States last Feb. 25 following two weeks of light workouts in the Philippines.
With 44 days to go, Pacquiao is just getting to his peak form. He said a couple of days that he’s 60 percent ready for the fight.
“It was great to finally put on the headgear and spar. My sparring partners gave me good work today,” said Pacquiao.
“They were perfect for testing the strategy Freddie and I have developed to beat Floyd Mayweather. I was very happy with my stamina and speed today,” he added.
Mayweather is deep into training in Las Vegas with his father, Floyd Sr., and uncle, Roger Mayweather, on top of things.
Both fighters had gone to the social media to give their fans a glimpse of their training, and yesterday Mayweather posted a 20-second video of his workout.
“You best believe that I will be in top shape and be the best Floyd Mayweather I can possibly be,” said the unbeaten boxer in last week’s press conference.