Sparmate rocks Pacquiao, but Roach is not worried

NICK GIONGCO

October 1, 2009, 7:41pm

Manny Pacquiao shadowboxes before heavy training in Baguio City where he held a public sparring session on Thursday. (Photo by RIZALDY COMMANDA)

BAGUIO CITY — Even at a low RPM, Manny Pacquiao remains a speedster.

After presiding over another hard day at the gym on Thursday, Pacquiao still managed to bring a smile on the face of trainer Freddie Roach, who disclosed that the Filipino pound-for-pound king is still far from being 50 percent in shape.

“I think right now Manny’s just 40 percent in shape,” Roach told a group of scribes who noticed that Shawn Porter, Pacquiao’s sparmate, managed to land some solid shots at his fighter.

But Roach allayed the fears of the scribes, many of whom had followed Pacquiao’s career and had watched many of the boxer’s past workouts.

“Manny’s just playing around,” said Roach, who remains unperturbed with Porter’s strong showing for the second straight time in sparring. “We’ve had times like this in previous training camps,” said Roach, who, only last week said Pacquiao is in terrific form.

Porter, a 21-year-old middleweight prospect from Ohio, landed a few left hooks that shook Pacquiao’s head and succeeded in connecting with his piston-like jabs, but it wasn’t enough to take the thunder away from Pacquiao. Displaying lightning-quick reflexes, Pacquiao fought back and gave Porter a taste of his dazzling speed and power early in the first round which the 2007 US Golden Gloves titleholder acknowledged as simply amazing. “He’s the best, man,” said the 159-lb Porter when asked about Pacquiao’s chances of dethroning Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, who tipped the scales before the workout at 153 lbs, also went two rounds with lightweight Urbano Antillon after the two torrid rounds with Porter and never skipped a beat as the 30-year-old lefty did everything in the gym except wash the dishes.

The next sparring days – which will be closed for public viewing – will be held on Saturday.

Thursday’s sparring was open to many spectators and media, many of whom had motored to Baguio to be part of media day arranged by promoter Bob Arum. Arum revealed that if Pacquiao wins sensationally against Cotto, he will begin negotiations with the camp of Floyd Mayweather.

“It has to be 60-40 in our favor,” said Arum, who heads Top Rank Inc., arguably the world’s premier promotional outfit, with Pacquiao at the top of his stable.

Arum arrived here yesterday in time for the press conference, motoring directly to this city after landing from the Manila International airport.

Pacquiao sparring mate Shawn Porter relishes the opportunity

Shawn Porter in Tunica, MS 8/09   Copyright Brad Cooney

Jr middleweight prospect Shawn Porter (10-0-8KO) has the biggest opportunity of his young career at hand.  He was selected to be one of Manny Pacquiao's sparring mates. This experience will be invaluable to this young man, to say the least.  Porter touched down in the Philippines with Pacquiao's other preferred sparring partner, Urbano Antillon.

This writer has had the opportunity to watch the young Porter fight on a few occasions.  He is trained by his father Kenny Porter, out of  "Old School Gym" located in Cleveland, Ohio.

The first thing that I noticed from ringside in August was just how fast the kids hands were.  The second thing that I noticed was how fast he knocked out his opponent in the 1st round.

Promoted by Prize Fight Promotions, Shawn Porter is undefeated and not only has those fast hands, but he has some power to go along with it.  His last bout took place in Tunica, MS back in August, where he systematically took apart Lamar Harris in 2:18 seconds of the first round.  This kid is the perfect sparring partner for Pacquiao, he is a little bit bigger, fast, and can pop.

Prize fight Promotions owner Russ Young is thrilled for his young prospect, " This is a great opportunity for this kid.  He has the chance to see what it takes to become pound for pound the best fighter in the world.  This is an achievement that he would like to accomplish himself one day, so to get this chance to see what it takes is a wonderful opportunity."

Boxing trainer Barry Hunter, who trains both Lamont Peterson (WBO interim Jr welterweight champ) and Anthony Peterson (#1 ranked lightweight), worked Porter's corner for his last fight.  Hunter believes this opportunity is second to none, " The first thing that I noticed when working Shawn's corner was his speed, and his power.  He is a very good selection to help out Pacquiao, he's a little bit bigger than Cotto and he can move and pop.  This opportunity goes without saying, he will take this experience and only benefit from it."

So, Porter will spend his coming days sparring with the great Manny Pacquiao.  He will no doubt benefit from this experience, in fact, probably a lot more than Pacquiao will benefit from it.  That's no knock at the young porter, but come on now, sparring with Manny Pacquiao?  An opportunity of a young fighters lifetime.

Read up more on Shawn Porter and his last fight at www.8countnews.com

After a win, Shawn Porter off to Philippines: Boxing Insider

Published: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 6:00 AM

Shawn Porter is now 18-0 after his victory last week

Shawn Porter took care of business last Friday. Now the undefeated welterweight can get out of the Cleveland weather for a few weeks.

Porter (18-0, 13 KOs) was in complete control in decisioning Anges Adjaho (25-5, 14 KOs) during their nationally televised bout last week on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" in Salisbury, Md.

It was definitely not a walkover, but Porter was in command in beating the fighter from the African nation of Benin by scores of 97-93 and 99-91 twice.

Porter did most of the hitting and Adjaho all of the missing in the 10-rounder.

"You can't knock out everybody," said Porter, a Stow High graduate using Cleveland as his boxing hometown. "The pace was exactly how I wanted it to be, and I was able to make him miss."

In terrific shape, Porter landed jabs and combinations to the body. According to his trainer and father, Ken, the plan was not to get into a slugfest, because getting caught with counter-punches was the main concern.

"We have trained against fighters from Africa for two years [in Los Angeles]," Ken Porter said. "He does terrible with them. You have to be patient, because they like to keep their guards up. We stayed away from a lot of big punching, because you waste a lot of energy."

Plans call for the Porter camp to depart for the Philippines on March 10 to train with superstar Manny Pacquiao for approximately six weeks as Pacquiao gets ready for his May 7 bout against Shane Mosley. Porter was in the Pac Man's training camp in 2009 before he defeated Miguel Cotto.

"We'll look for something when we get back to the States," Shawn Porter said.