chumpchampion

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have met and worked with some well known and talented actors, musicians and artists during my editing career and I can honestly say I’ve never been starstruck or that in awe of them. But when I took a break from cutting the ATCQ doc on Monday for a chance to check out reigning pound for pound king Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao in a closed training session with legendary trainer Freddie Roach at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, I was completely and utterly impressed. It’s one thing to meet one of your favorite athletes-a record setting boxer who has demolished opponents over six different weight classes (the only other boxer to do so was Oscar De LA Hoya who was forced into retirement by Manny last year), but it’s completely different when you’re a Filipino and the person you’re meeting is basically the Filipino Elvis.

And not only was I amazed at Manny’s superior speed and punching power, but I was equally impressed with his graciousness; stopping to say hi and sign autographs for the few people who were in the gym, posing for pictures (somehow I missed my opportunity when I shook his hand), and even apologizing to Freddie when he would hit him a little too hard in the ring.

HBO’s ongoing 24/7 series leads up to Manny’s fight against Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Las Vegas for the Welterweight title on Saturday, November 14th. My birthday is actually the day after the fight and the only present I really want is for Pacquiao to break the record by winning his seventh world title in seven different weight divisions, or at least another chance to get a photo with the champ.

Click here to see more video I posted on Vimeo.

And click here or the photos below to see the entire photo set on Flickr.

Manny and Freddie in the ring 1 from chumpchampion on Vimeo.

Manny and Freddie in the ring 2 from chumpchampion on Vimeo.

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Tags: 24/7, boxing, HBO, Hollywood, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De LA Hoya, Pac Man, Philippines, photography, sports, video, Wild Card Boxing Club

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 5:09 am and is filed under something to hear, something to look at. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.