Bob Arum is making a quick trip to the Orient to check on the progress of Manny Pacquiao’s training and drumbeat his Nov. 23 showdown with Chris Algieri in Macau.
Just before he boarded a Manila-bound plane from Los Angeles yesterday, Arum, accompanied in the trip by ace publicist Fred Sternburg, said they are heading straight to General Santos City.
Arum, 82, will stay in the country for four days before a jet from The Venetian in Macau will bring Pacquiao and key members of his entourage for an overnight stay in Hong Kong.
“We’ll be doing a media day in Hong Kong,” said Arum, noting that Pacquiao will hold an open workout for the Chinese media on Monday.
The private jet will pick up Pacquiao in General Santos City and will bring him back there immediately after the training session so he can resume his buildup on local shores.
Pacquiao is in the thick of his preparation for a defense of the World Boxing Organization welterweight title at the CotaiArena with lead trainer Freddie Roach supervising his daily workouts.
Roach and Pacquiao are working on cutting off the ring to negate the 5-10 1/2 Algieri’s range, something that the 30-year-old American has working for him against the 5-6 Filipino icon.
In their afternoon training at the GenSan branch of the Wild Card, Roach would always remind Pacquiao to force Algieri into a corner, the spot he expects the fighting congressman to rain power blows from all angles.
Three sparmates — Stan Martinyiouk, Mike Jones and Viktor Postol — are already in GenSan helping Pacquiao get accustomed to fighting a tall and rangy fighter like Algieri.