Manny Pacquiao won again by a very narrow margin over Juan Manuel Marquez in a decision that could not have been closer. Marquez came in as a 7-1 underdog, though their previous two fights were also extremely close. The scores at the end of the fight were 114-114,115-113 and 116-112. Punching stats had Pacquiao landing 176 of 578 punches, and Marquez 138 of 436. Some analysts say what might have pushed Pacquiao ahead was his aggression while Marquez’s counterpunching stopped major damage from occurring.
How did Manny Pacquiao prepare for this brutal battle? His camp, for the most part, stayed the same. When you’ve been on such an epic winning streak for so many years through several weight classes – as the saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Just before the David Diaz fight, Pacquiao hired conditioning coach Alex Ariza who focuses on proper diet and high-intensity interval training that helps to develop the body’s fast-twitch muscle which controls explosiveness. Ariza uses a range of technical instruments to monitor Pacquiao’s pulse, body fat and recovery rate.
Several weeks before the Marquez fight, Pacquiao began a stricter diet consisting of mainly protein shakes, rice for carbs, beef and chicken soup. He has a total of six meals per day totaling 7,000 calories and makes certain to burn at least 7500 calories before he goes to bed. He drinks a protein shake just before bed and wakes up at 3:00 am to drink another.
Manny awakes at 6:00 am to begin training. He starts with a 45 minute run, then higher intensity sprints. Before hitting the heavy punching bags, he shadow boxes to warm up his shoulders and arms. He moves on to the speed and heavy bag, peppering the punching bags with hits and practicing his technical footwork. After a brief rest he turns to conditioning and jump rope. He ends the day with ab exercises, a reported 1400 crunches per day as well as being hit by a bamboo stick to train his body to absorb blows.
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