WBO Welterweight Champion, Manny Pacquiao is training for his next fight – at the San Diego Zoo!
Manny Pacquiao is training for his June 9th bout against WBO Light Welterweight Champion Tim Bradley at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. And he’s using an unorthodox method to prepare for the fight.
Pacquiao has gone back to nature and is sparring with lions, tigers and bears at the San Diego Zoo in Southern California.
LJ Horne, of Compton, California, is Pacquio’s trainer for this beastly approach . “I want Manny to get used to sparring with a 550 pound animal, so a welterweight will be like nothing to him… you feel me?”, said LJ in between training.
Brady Blair, zoologist at the San Diego Zoo, is in awe of Pacquiao. ” In all my years of studying the behavior of wild animals, I have never seen such camaraderie between man and beast. It’s almost as if they have become one.”
Zookeepers at the San Diego Zoo are impressed with the way Pacquiao has been jabbing at the bears, and outlasting the lions. “We’re placing all our bets on Pacquiao. He really is the King of the Jungle.”
Pacquiao isn’t the first boxer to train with a lion. Mike Tyson trained with several lions, though he would often misplace them.
WWN have full coverage of the Pacquiao/Bradley fight on June 9th as it happens. Bradley’s camp is reportedly quite nervous and has ordered rabies shots for Tim Bradley.
