It's back to the gym for boxing champ Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines - After missing practice for two days, it’s back to the gym for Manny Pacquiao.

The 30-year-old native of General Santos City resumes his training Monday as he is scheduled to run again in the morning and then hit the Wildcard gym in the afternoon with barely six weeks before he faces Englishman Ricky Hatton in a light-welterweight showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Tuloy ang ensayo namin," said Pacquiao in a special teleconference at the GMA Network Center.

“Takbo ulit sa umaga tapos mitts sa hapon," he added.

Sparring will also continue with Pacquiao now scheduled to go five rounds beginning Thursday.

Last week, he began sparring for four rounds, flooring and later bludgeoning Armenian sparmate Art Hovhannesyan.

In his second sparring session, the Filipino boxing star went toe to toe with reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) super-featherweight champion Jorge Linares of Venezuela in a fierce exchange full of hard blows.

“That was intense," said amateur boxer Oscar Gonzales, younger brother of former World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title holder Alejandro `Cobrita’.

Pacquiao skipped training Saturday and Sunday in order to thresh out his contract problem with Solar Sports, whose top executives led by William Tieng and Peter Chan Liong personally met the Filipino in his posh Palazzo apartment in Los Angeles.

Two days after announcing he’s jumping ship to ABS-CBN, Pacquiao made a turnaround and retracted on his earlier statement following hours of meeting with the Solar Sports officials.

Pacquiao stressed it was just a case of "misunderstanding" and said the contract he had with the cable sports channel remains valid and binding, paving the way for its airing of his 12-round bout against Hatton over GMA-7 and Solar Sports.

GMA Network executive vice president and chief operating officer Gilberto Duavit said that with everything over, it’s now time for Pacquiao to fully concentrate on his coming fight, telling the Filipino boxing icon “panahon ng bawiin kung anuman ang nawalang oras sa iyong pag-eensayo."

Atty. Felipe Gozon, GMA Network chairman, president and chief executive officer (CEO), for his part, told Pacquiao over the phone that he should put the incident behind him.

"Kalimutan na natin ang lahat. Let’s move forward. Mag-ensayo kang mabuti," he said. -GMANews.TV

Source: gmanews.tv