MANNY Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday night in what would be a working holiday season for the boxing great.
Training camp commences for the 40-year-old boxing great right on Christmas Eve as his team is not about to lose time preparing for the Filipino’s defense of his World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight title belt against Adrian Broner a month from now.
Pacquiao is expected to attend Church services on Sunday and then take the rest of the day off to help him recover from the 13-hour flight he and his entourage endured from Manila to the U.S.
By Monday, work begins.
Although the world celebrates Christmas the day after, the legendary Pacman will show up at the famed Wild Card gym for his first official U.S. training in the last two years.
Pacquiao has not fought in America since 2016 when he wrested the World Boxing Organization (WBO) 147-lbs title belt from Jessie Vargas, scoring a unanimous, 12-round decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The workout incidentally, also marks the reunion between Pacquiao and former trainer Freddie Roach after a one-year parting of ways following the stunning loss of the eight-time world division champion to Australian Jeff Horn in their July 2 title fight last 2017.
Roach however, has only been tapped as consultant, with Buboy Fernandez now acting as the lead trainer along with strength and conditioning coach Justine Fortune.
Fernandez and Fortune already did the work in Pacquiao’s last fight, tending his corner against Lucas Matthysse, who the Filipino dethroned following a seventh-round stoppage in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to win the WBA crown.
Pacquiao’s long-time friend also supervised the first half of his training for the Broner fight which was split between Manila and General Santos City.
The title bout with Broner will be held on Jan. 19 at the MGM Grand.