DK Yoo poses a serious threat to anyone, Manny Pacquiao included.
Marvin Somodio, who is Freddie Roach’s chief assistant at the Wild Card, recently did a training session with the Korean mix-martial arts expert.
Somodio understands why Pacquiao is not taking Yoo for granted.
“Even if it is an exhibition match, you can’t be overconfident because Yoo is training hard,” Somodio, also a member of Pacquiao’s US training team, said from Los Angeles.
Somodio insists Yoo has one clear advantage.
“He (Yoo) is big and that’s dangerous,” he added.
The Pac-Yoo duel will be fought in six two-minute rounds on 11 December.
Although it is a charity event, Pacquiao seems to be not taking any chances.
The past few weeks in General Santos City, the eight-division champion has been religiously showing up at the track oval in the morning before sweating it out at the gym in the afternoon.
His workouts are also being supervised by the same trainers who join him while getting ready for a big fight, a sign that the 43-year-old legend is determined to put on a show.
Pacquiao himself revealed that he is also doing plyometric exercises.
After losing to Yordenis Ugas of Cuba in Las Vegas last year, Pacquiao announced that he is retiring from the fight game.
But there are talks within Pacquiao’s team that the Yoo clash will serve as a warmup to his impending return in 2023.
Buboy Fernandez, who heads the roster of Filipino trainers, admits that his longtime pal, still has it.
“The power is there,” Fernandez said after taking the brunt of his friend’s power punches on the mitts.
And that is exactly the reason why he is almost killing himself in training.
“He wants to see if he can still sustain the energy that he’s been showing in the gym,” said one team member.
If Pacquiao picks Yoo apart with ease, it could lead to a possible comeback.
But that’s going ahead of the story.
Pacquiao needs to clear a major roadblock in four weeks in Seoul.
