MANNY PACQUIAO finally landed in Los Angeles on Monday and according to international matchmaker Sean Gibbons, the sitting Philippine senator is ready to hit the road and punish the mitts as he prepares for his fight against Errol Spence Jr. next month.
“The Senator looks amazing, he looks prepared and looks ready to go to work,” Gibbons told BusinessMirror on Monday. “Tomorrow morning, he’ll go to the Wild Card Gym and reconnect with Freddie Roach.”
Pacquiao, 42, fights undefeated International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council welterweight champion Spence on August 21 (August 22 in Manila) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“It’s more on conditioning in the next couple of days, and then sparring later in the week,” Gibbons, who hasn’t seen Pacquiao for more than a year, said.
Chief trainer Buboy Fernandez and assistant trainer Nonoy Neri were with Pacquiao in the PAL flight that was reverted to the Haneda Airport in Japan after the pilots found out that a sick man was on board.
With the Los Angeles immigration desks closing at midnight, beyond the PAL flight’s ETA, the pilots had no recourse but to return to Manila. Pacquiao and company managed to catch a plane to Los Angeles on Sunday.
CASIMERO VS RIGONDEAUX
REIGNING World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion Johnriel Casimero will face Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux—instead of WBC bantamweight titleholder Nonito Donaire Jr.—on August 14 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson City, California.
International matchmaker Sean Gibbons made the confirmation on Monday, adding the supposed Casimero-Donaire duel was clouded with intrigues.
“Donaire volunteered his services for a unification fight [with Casimero], so we accepted it,” Gibbons said. “And then they came out with a million excuses that they don’t want to fight.”
Donaire canceled his fight with Casimero after he and his wife-manager Rachel accused the Casimero camp of refusing to heee the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA) testing.
Gibbons denied the Donaires’ claim.
“The promoter of a fight controls the testing of the fight, the promoter will coordinate with it,” Gibbons said. “We’re in the WBC VADA program, which can test you 365/24/7, so we received the VADA paperwork finally on Friday morning and then returned it the next day before we enrolled on Saturday afternoon.”