You could see this coming from a mile away.
The second that Manny Pacquiao was announced as the victor over Juan Manuel Marquez in what can only be described as an “underwhelming” effort, the mad scramble to blame someone, anyone within the Filipino champion’s ranks for the showing was immediately under way.
Without fail, a week after the fact, rumors began to circulate that Pacquiao was somehow both overtrained and undertrained heading into his November 12 showdown.
On cue, Pacquiao advisor Rex Salud made it known to the Philippine Star that, “despite a 10-week boot camp that started in Baguio City and ended in Wild Card Gym in Hollywood” the champ was ultimately ill-prepared to handle Marquez. And why exactly was he undertrained? Because, apparently, folks are afraid to spar against Pacquiao for fear of him administering severe bodily harm.
Except Amir Khan, of course. Him the Pacquiao camp avoids like a plague because, as per Khan, he got the better of the Filipino champion during their last few sparring sessions.
“I don’t think Manny sparred too many rounds,” Salud told the Philippine Star. “It wasn’t the same Manny in the ring that night. Maybe, it was tension from a personal problem. I don’t know. But what I know is Manny is capable of performing much, much better.”
But it wasn’t just the undertraining. According to Salud, Pacquiao was also overwhelmed by his other responsibilities.
“Manny has many obligations,” he said. “Remember he’s a congressman. But Marquez is exclusively a fighter. He has no other commitments. He just concentrates on fighting. But Manny knows what to do to bounce back. He’s done it before.”
On the bright side, Salud did echo what we at Opposing Views has been saying ever since the Pacquiao vs. Marquez III bout ended – we don’t need a part four to this rivalry. Everyone’s points have been duly noted, but it’s time for Pacquiao to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“It’s useless,” Salud said of the fight. “If they fight again, it’ll be another close decision. I don’t think the fans will buy tickets for another fight. It’s time for both of them to move on.”
And who should Pacquiao fight next? Even Salud admitted the answer to that one.
“There’s nobody else out there,” he says. “The whole world is waiting for the big fight – Manny against Mayweather. But you don’t know if Mayweather really wants to fight Manny because he doesn’t want to risk losing.”
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I don't think Manny was undertrained. He could actually have been OVERTRAINED. Overtraining overloads the athletes system(s), such that the OPPOSITE is achieved through the training activities - POORER PERFORMANCE. Of course, the best way the find out if this is what happened is to medically examine Manny for the presence of chemicals in his blood that indicates overtraining.
I think Manny was UNDERTRAINED, I say this because by watching clips of him I did not see any serious training instead I seen clips of him spending good times. 1.) having two of his entourage spar together 2.) attending some sort of social gathering where he was seen doing pool trick shots days before the fight. 3.) watch a sparing partner's fight a week before the fight. 4.) An argeument with Ariza made me want to go Hmmm?? He was undertrained or rather was MISMANAGELYTRAINED and not enough game plan. Training wasn't taken seriuosly as it should. Fatigue was in his eyes when he walk to the ring..Buboy Fernandez on HBO 24/7 said "Before it was only me and Manny, now there's 50-60 entourage, it's different," what did he mean"... My 2 cents.
There Can Be Only One.