“No Training But Plenty of Road Work” For Manny Pacquiao

The day, a day many folks thought would never come, the day of THE PRESS CONFERENCE, started early for Manny Pacquiao.

Ace publicist Fred Sternburg, a gem of a man who for some reason calls me “Vape,” was up at 4 AM, and headed over the Manny’s LA house. Pacman was already doing bible study when Fred got there. Manny got his dose of serenity and wisdom and then showered up, ate some breakfast, and by 7:45 AM, was on the road. The Congressman had a load of ESPN to do, and started that at 8:20 AM. For two hours, he did live hits, including an amusing one on “First Take,” with the jesters Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. “He put Stephen A. in his place,” opined Sternburg, though I tend to think SAS does that himself. Simply, his cacaphonous delivery of booming pontifications isn’t for me. But each to his own…

{youtube}8UPToQpA9rw{/youtube}

Manny then did a “SportsCenter” hit, and by 10:50 AM PT, was away. He then hit the red carpet at the Nokia, where he was supposed to do an hour of TV hits. He was so popular, that ran over, and then he and Floyd Mayweather switched. Manny went to talk to writers, and Floyd talked to TV. Manny did about a half hour with the print crew, and then the presser kicked off. He kept on talking after that, to Univision, and ABS-CBN, and then headed to Wild Card, to film some for a prevue show. Next, and without caffeinating himself, Pacman headed to “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” to be funny, or at least, laugh heartily at Jimmy being funny. Jimmy’s guy Guillermo had been on the red carpet and had some fun with the Congressman there… Pacman had a thrill meeting actor Liam Neeson, a huge boxing fan who narrated the Manny doc which was just in theaters. A Pacman convoy then went from Hollywood to East Hollywood, and did filming for a PPV commercial. That ran about three hours long. Floyd did his part, and then Manny did his. No, their paths did not cross. Pacman was home by 10 PM PT. “No, there was no training yesterday, but Manny did plenty of road work,” Sternburg cracked. I enjoyed that one, almost as much as his annual “Boxing Day” witticism.

{youtube}79ft5j-zZzw{/youtube}

“He will be back in the gym today, doing mitts and stuff. Sparring starts next week,” the publicist said.

Oh, by the way, both men will drill down on training, as this is an abbreviated camp, but we will see them during fight week, in a fight week presser, in Vegas.

Yesterday was a whirlwind, but there will be plenty more to do, if the unbeaten pugilist-specialist Mayweather is to be dethroned.

Woods is on Twitter. https://twitter.com/Woodsy1069

Follow @Woodsy1069

WATCH RELATED VIDEOS ON BOXINGCHANNEL.TV