HOLLYWOOD - On the warmest Los Angeles day in recent memory, no place was hotter than the ring inside the Wild Card Boxing Club when consensus pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao and lightweight contender Urbano Antillon squared off in the first of what should be many memorable sparring sessions leading up to the Filipino icon’s upcoming May 2 bout with Ricky Hatton. Antillon, a blue chip contender out of Maywood, CA, looked raring to go, a ball of energy as he waited for the arrival of Pacquiao.
“We sparred 3 years ago, “Antillon told me beforehand. “But he’s gotten better and I think I have, too. I’m really looking forward to this.”
Antillon is a veteran of the excellent sparring that can be had in the hotbed of boxing that is Southern California boxing. Kevin Kelley, Edwin Valero (when the lightweight was just coming on the scene), and Manny Pacquiao are just a few of the many top-notch fighters he has given or gotten good work from over the years from the Wild Card o Maywood’s tough gym, to L.A. Boxing in it’s heyday.
“I was 16 and was fighting two-time champions,” says Antillon. “I like to think I gave as good as I got. I got beat up early on but as I kept going and got better, I held my own.”
Today would be no different.
Pacquiao entered the gym followed by his entourage and began to warm up with his strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza. Stretching with Ariza using both standard exercises and elastic tubing, Pacquiao seemed relaxed and business as usual. Antillon, who seemed a bit eager before Pacquiao arrived, got right to work, wrapping his hands and jumping in the ring for some shadowboxing. Last week, Jorge Linares was here as Pacquiao’s sparring partner as Antillon was recovering from being sick. Seemingly to most to be the antithesis of Ricky Hatton, a slick junior lightweight champion now moving up to lightweight, Linares is an orthodox fighter who prefers boxing and trickery to stalking and pressuring. Antillon is just what the doctor ordered to prepare for Hatton. A hard-hitting, intelligent pressure fighter who can fight from either stance and in possession of a solid chin, Antillon, who is ranked #2 in the WBO, #3 WBA and #3 in the WBC, is no sparring partner. He is a man on the verge of getting a crack at the cream of the junior lightweight and lightweight division.
“We figure that if Manny can look sharp against a sharp fighter like [Linares], he can look sharp against anyone in the world,” said Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach. “Good work is good work. I don’t care what style it is. Linares makes Manny think and not many fighters can do that. Ricky Hatton is very basic. Linares is a thinker and it rises the level of [Pacquiao’s game].”
“[Antillon] is more of a Ricky Hatton type of style than Linares,” Roach would say before the session began. “He’ll be back next week. Manny is doing well. He’s sharp. He’s boxing really well. We’ve got the game plan all worked out and I’m really happy with where he is at.”
Pacquiao, as of last Saturday, was 147 pounds, right on weight.
Hatton, who is a straight forward, mauling type of fighter has recently employed Floyd Mayweather, Sr as his lead trainer. It was a move that proved successful in their first fight together against Paulie Malignaggi. Roach however, doesn’t think Mayweather, Sr. can help the veteran fighter much this late in his career.
“I mean, he can tell him some poems,” Roach says with a wry smile. “That’s all [Mayweather, Sr.] is good at that I know of. He’s going to try and make him a better boxer but obviously it’s hard to make change someone at this late stage of their career. I’ve been with Manny eight years and I’ve never tried to change him. Just improved on what we do. And so Ricky Hatton and Floyd are like black and white. Their styles are totally different. I think the best way for Ricky Hatton to fight this fight to fight like he does. If he tries to box Manny, he’ll get killed.”
Not one to shy away from a prediction, Roach is quick and adamant in his reply when asked for one.
“We’re going to knock him out in three rounds,” Roach says in all confidence. “I told Manny that if it goes past three rounds, I’d be mad at him.”
With both fighters warm and ready, the room’s cell phones turned off, and the door to the gym locked for good measure, it was time to get it on. Before the first bell sounded for their six round session, an eerie silence fell over the room. Sessions like this are a rare pleasure. A feeling that we were all in for a treat permeated the air. There was electricity in the air as the bell for round one sounded.
Antillon immediately began stalking Pacquiao who danced with his back against the ropes, matching his opponent jab for jab as both men got comfortable and found their range. The man from Maywood dug in with body shots immediately and Pacquiao popped his jab and escaped the ropes. The action moved center ring as Pacquiao turned Antillon and popped his jab in rapid succession. He tried working his lead left but Antillon, with a high and tight guard picked off his jabs and pressed forward, getting in a sneaky lead right to the head and body. Pacquiao was having none of that as he opened up with a flurry of lead lefts and a right hand to head and body of his own. Antillon came back with a body attack as Manny backed off and lay against the ropes. Antillon go t in some solid shots. A hard right and a left to the body thudded through the room. Pacquiao again spun out and popped the jab as the bell sounded. A close, even round.
Round two saw Pacquiao moving smoothly along the edges of the ring with Antillon not far behind him digging in a body shot. Pacquaio worked his elusive defense, slipping shots, moving his head side to side and using fancy footwork to get out of range. Pacquiao would spin Antillon, the first of a new, aggressive tactic, grabbing his hips and moving him into place as he dug shots to the body before snapping a left upstairs before his opponent could get set. Antillon pressed forward at center, shooting to Pacquiao’s ribs. But what sounded and looked like a good shot, only spurred Pacquaio on.
“More” he implored. And Antillon obliged as Pacquiao guarded his head and took some brutal body shots.
“More,” Pacquiao repeated and again took a body blow in reply.
At this, Pacquaio was on the move again, ripping body shots of his own in a blur. He even managed a double hook with each hand to the head of Antillon who walked straight ahead into the punches but took them well. Again, the spin move catches Antillon along the ribs as round two came to a close.
Antillon opened up with a brutal uppercut to start the third. Pacquaio took it well and worked hard behind the jab, jab, and more jab. Pacquiao moved along the ropes and as he spun out against an advancing Antillon, he stumbled and fell to the canvas.
He would rise quickly and take an uppercut for his trouble along with a follow up right hand as he moved to the ropes once again. Antillon continued sneaking in his lead right with vicious aplomb but Pacquiao, who seems to relish preparing his body for punishment in this manner, took it very well. A body shot from Antillon only got Pacquaio talking again.
“I like the body shot,” Pacquiao exclaimed behind his guard. “Go! C’mon,” he implored.
Pacquaio would get in a low blow during the follow up exchange but both would touch gloves and continue to work. At the thirty-second mark, Antillon opened up and Pacquaio urged him on again as they traded to the bell.
The fourth round started to look more and more like a Hatton fight as both men tied up quickly and wrestled from center ring to the ropes. Pacquaio trapped Antillon’s left arm but the Maywood native got going with his right hand. Pacquaio worked tight right hooks in answer. The action was getting even hotter. Antillon shot a hard right hand and Pacquaio went to the body. Pacquaio seemed to be bullying a bit, imposing his size. A new move he implored was similar to a Tito Trinidad’s shoulder move. As Antillon got in close, Pacquiao turned to the side and crooked his arm and pushed off with it, giving him distance to work in close as his opponent was off balance. But Antillon is game as hell as he pressed forward and went back to the body. Both guys started really letting them go now. But Pacquaio seemed to be getting the best of it, shouldering Antillon off and throwing and landing punches in bunches. At the thirty-second mark, Pacman again commanded, “Go! Go!” to Antillon but the young warrior didn’t respond this time, biding his time and then getting in a right hand that got an “Oooh” from someone at ringside. Antillon opened up and just before the bell landed a right, two body shots from either side and another left and right up top. Nice round.
After the fourth, it was decided that more rounds were needed and so and fifth began and Pacquaio takes a right from Antillon. Pacquaio tries a double right jab but Antillon shoots his lead right in over the top. A left-right to the head and a left-right to the body lands for Antillon as Pacquaio is on the ropes. This only incenses Manny and he opens fire with a brutal assault of lefts rights and too many shots to count to the head and body. He seems to take over at will and Antillon, who holds steady, is unable to get his offense going as he catches and waits to shoot back. It’s Antillon on the ropes now as Manny lends left after left and then backs off, commanding “Go! I like the body! Go!” Antillon obliges and lets loose to the body but seems a bit weary from the storm that just passed and eats a right hook to the end the round.
Pacquaio started the final round with left right left right to the head and body and then gets in the double punch again as Antillon comes forward. Antillon presses Pacquaio to the ropes again but this time, Manny uses his yardstick (a right hand held straight out) to keep him at bay and keep distance. Pacquaio traps his arm and uses his other to work as they tie up in close. A rough exchange ensues, as Antillon gets loose and tears into Pacquaio with left, right, left right to the head. It’s phone booth action with both men taking and giving with equal measure. The action moved center ring and Pacquiao takes over at range with his right jab-left hand. They both exploded down the stretch and trade all the way to the bell, leaving everything in the ring. Applause broke out as the final bell sounded.
Antillon laughed and joked with Manny afterward, saying he was owed the standing offer of $1,000 for the “knockdown” in the second round. Manny laughed good-naturedly.
It was everything it had been billed as and as the first of several more in the weeks leading up May 2; it set the bar extremely high. Following the session, both men continued their workouts side by side, laughing and joking in the breaks. The camaraderie of the day’s battle already growing and the knowledge that this was the first of many more to come pushing them forward.
Source: maxboxing.com
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