Not all great talents transpire to become the best. In fact, a lot of the best started out as simply average prospects, but because of their desire and dedication to practice and train to be the best that they can be, they end up overtaking more naturally gifted athletes than them.
Truth be told as good as Charles Barkley is, he could've been so much greater or perhaps won a few more NBA rings than he did (none) if only he had the work ethics of other NBA legends like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Kobe Bryant.
In 1998, Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts with the 1st pick of the NFL draft while the San Diego Chargers took Washington State University quarterback Ryan Leaf with the second pick. At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, Leaf at the time was not only bigger and stronger than Manning but he was also considered the more athletic of the two. Manning however was more mature as a quarterback and prepares, trains and lives football like no other quarterback in the league and the knock on Leaf was his maturity and attitude. 11 years after, Manning has won a Superbowl, the league MVP thrice, went to the Pro Bowl 9 times on top of a lot of other accolades and is still currently leading his Colts to a 4-0 record as the QB position while Leaf has long been forgotten and was out of the league after only 25 starts.
In boxing, nobody trains like Manny Pacquiao. If you have seen him train before, then you already know what I mean. Top Rank boss Bob Arum who has promoted all-time greats like Muhammad Ali and Juli Caesar Chavez to name a few says he has never seen anybody train like Pacquiao before likening him to a madman in training. His trainer Freddie Roach echoes such statements perhaps that's why when asked two weeks ago at the beginning of their training in Baguio about the sate of Pacquiao's training, Team Pacquiao assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez said,
Those things people say that we're already too late in terms of our training.. I just laugh them off. I know Manny. I know he knows when we start training- you can't tell him what to do anymore. He knows what he needs to do already,"
("Yung sinasabi ng iba na masyado na tayong late sa training, sabi ko... kaya ako tumatawa-tawa na alng ako eh. Alam ko talaga ang ano ni Manny, oras ng start ng training, hinde mo na yan pwede turuan eh. Alam niya yung gagawin niya,")
In other words, Pacquiao knows what needs to be done and when he buckles down to train, nobody else can out-train him. So despite some people's opinions regarding how Pacquiao' training camp is going, I am inclined to go with what Pacquiao recently wrote in his latest article that things are going "So far, so good."
Just like what his popular Nike shirt says, "Pacquiao Knows". How many times have Pacquiao proven his critics wrong? And Roach said it himself, the moment Pacquiao shows up in training camp without that desire and enthusiasm to train, that's when they part ways. As far as his conditioning and sparring, it's only been two weeks of training and things are still bound to pick up. With that said however, I do agree that some distractions should be eliminated but then again, does any of this really matter? As long as Pacquiao wins, that's the only objective.
What if the people around him are what motivates him to train harder? Hes been living with about 30 people at a time in his apartment in Hollywood anyway when he trains at the Wild Card, do you really think there weren't any distractions there? It's really a matter of opinion. What to the outside world may seem as distractions may be what Pacquiao sees as inspiration. And frankly, who are we to question? In my opinion, if Pacquiao loses on November 14, it's going to be because of Miguel Cotto because as far as I'm concerned, I am confident that Pacquiao is making the proper preparations.
Relax Pacland... PAC MAN KNOWS!
Source: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10947-Indianapolis-Fight-Sports-Examiner~y2009m10d4-Pac-Knows-Evaluating-Pacquiaos-training-camp
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