By: Sean Crose
“Boxing is my passion,” WBA welterweight belt holder Manny Pacquiao said during a conference call to promote his January 19th pay per view bout against Adrien Broner. “I’m always excited while preparing for my fight.” At the age of 40, Pacquiao has made it clear that he fully plans to keep on boxing. “I’ve already accomplished what I wanted to accomplish in life,” he claimed. “What I want to do is maintain.” Being in his fifth decade, though, means that Pacquiao has had to make some changes in order to stay in the top bracket of the business.
“The routine of my training is the same,” he said, “but we have a couple of adjustments in training in recovery.” For instance, Pacquiao claimed: “If we cannot recover, I let my body rest.” One thing Pacquiao wasn’t interested in doing was discussing future fights, particularly a potential rematch against Floyd Mayweather. “My plan is now,” he said, “one (fight) at a time.” He particularly thinks Broner is worthy all of his attention. “No prediction,” Pacquiao asserted. “I will do my best.” There was little doubt that he is taking Broner seriously. “I’m very focused on this fight,” he stated clearly.
One unusual aspect of the Pacquiao call was that he came out and made it clear that he disapproved of Mayweather’s knockout of Tenshin Nasukawa in late December. Being an exhibition bout, Pacquiao felt it should have been brutality-free. “That’s what I understand about exhibitions,” he said.
After Pacquiao got off the call, Adrien Broner got on and took questions from the press. Although he’s considerably younger than his opponent, Broner appeared to show a bit more maturity than his earlier self-used to. Although still brash, the fighter conveyed a seriousness that indicated he is seeing this as the fight of a lifetime.
“I’m just ready to go out there and prove the naysayers wrong,” he said. The Cincinnati native indicated that his underdog status leading up to this fight is driving him. “It’s real motivating,” he claimed. “I just don’t let it get to me.” Broner also made it clear that a victory over Pacquiao would compensate for the times he’s come up short in the ring. “It’s definitely going to sweep a lot of things under the rug,” he claimed.
Referring to the upcoming bout, Broner didn’t mince words. “I’ve got to take it seriously,” he said. “I just really feel like it’s my time.”