By Roy Luarca
HOLLYWOOD—“Kill that body.”
The instruction reverberated at the Wild Card Gym Saturday as Freddie Roach taunted pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao to unleash more body shots as he stayed on the ropes.
Pacquiao happily obliged and Roach, unmindful of the pain rippling through his body shield, egged him to go on.
Though the body of Joshua Clottey was supposed to be the main target, the mitts session, originally set for 12 rounds but stretched to 15, also featured head shots and strategies to fend off attacks and to keep a safe distance.
A fired-up Pacquiao hardly needed to be reminded, though, as he showed Roach what he intends to do to Clottey in their March 13 fight.
Pacquiao demonstrated three ways how he would try to break down Clottey’s defenses.
Convinced that his prized ward has carried out the strategies they devised after watching tapes of Clottey’s previous bouts, Roach wanted to end the session after Round 12.
But Pacquiao goaded him for more, joking that he could go as long as 26 rounds.
After three more rounds, in which Pacquiao kept on unloading body shots, a fagged out Roach finally called it a day.
Before wrapping up the day’s training session, Pacquiao asked some of his friends to bring in the cake and food he had ordered for Roach’s birthday celebration.
In no time, a huge cake, pancit, chicken adobo, beef caldereta, lumpiang shanghai and a tray of fruits were brought in, with Boston Red Sox fanatic Rob Peters, Pacquiao’s chief of security, taking charge of the proceedings.
Pacquiao brought the cake to Roach, who blew out the lighted candles, and then led the crowd at the gym in singing Happy Birthday.
“I don’t feel tired at all,” Pacquiao later told Filipino scribes. “Everything’s okay. I’m ready.”
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