Manny Pacquiao Has Recurring Calf Cramps as $300million Mega-Fight Against Floyd Mayweather Jr Looms Near
With a little more than a month out from his May 2 mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao missed his routine morning roadwork session on Saturday morning. His strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune told the Filipino boxer's regular running partners who have assembled outside his Hancock Park house, "Manny won't run today. It is not the end of the world, but we do it for a reason." According to USA Today, Freddie Roach last week admitted that Pacquiao had been suffering from cramps in his legs.
Roach told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports: "There's no magic cure for it. We're doing what we can do. I've got the doctors working on it. There are some Filipino guys here who are massaging it for him. The cream cost $1,800 for a single bottle. I wasn't too happy about that." The cost is so high because Pacquiao does not have health insurance in the United States and the cream had to be tested and approved first by the US Anti-Doping Agency before each application.
Roach also made some changes in Pacquiao's training regime to reduce the pressure on his legs. "We did change his running schedule because I don't like him running the hills six days a week. I've got him on the track a lot more now doing fast sprint-type workouts instead of hill workouts. I think it's better for the older fighters sometimes to stay away from the hills so much."
Meanwhile Fortune, an Australian former heavyweight champion contender, told USA Today: "I would like him to get up and move around at least, get out the stiffness from the work we have been doing. He is not going to run, but we will make up for it with the work we do later. I make it hard for him but he needs to suck it up. Fighting Mayweather is not easy, either. There are always consequences."
Paquiao relies on his massive calves, which he developed during his impoverished childhood days when he had to walk vast distances to peddle wares to support his family, to generate his much vaunted punching power. However, in recent years, it seems he's been hounded by recurring cramps in that region of his body.