Long and hard

LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao admitted Sunday that he would have knocked Mario Barrios out and snatched the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight crown if only he had trained longer.

“Just trained for seven and a half weeks and it wasn’t enough because there were days when I had to rest my body to recover,” Pacquiao said upon his arrival from Las Vegas.

His ambitious bid to become a world champion at age 46 got derailed over the weekend when his 12-round clash with Barrios was ruled a majority draw at the MGM Grand.

Pacquiao, fresh from a grueling Senate election campaign in the Philippines, arrived here on 18 May.

“My training was crammed in that short period of time so it wasn’t enough. If we had a longer period to prepare, we would have properly programmed everything.”

Despite being older by 16 years, Pacquiao pressed the attack and showed his willingness and desire to become the second oldest world champion in history.

“The ideal (training camp) right now for me should be three months or 12 weeks,” said Pacquiao, who was still widely received for standing his ground against a fresher and a much younger rival.

Pacquiao insists that even with a shortened training period, he still managed to win eight rounds.

“At worst, my tally is 7-5,” he added as some members of his team listened to the eight-division champion’s post-fight assessment of the fight that still drew 13,107 fans.

“Barrios was only scoring with jabs unlike me who was throwing hard blows,” the Hall of Famer said.

What made Pacquiao so convinced that he rose to the occasion was that he “was even coming off a four-year layoff.”

Now that everything is in the rearview mirror, Pacquiao is now looking forward to his next assignment.

“October or November,” he said.

The leading candidate is the other world welterweight champion in Rolly Romero, the World Boxing Association belt holder.

If this fight materializes, Pacquiao expects to be at his finest since he would make sure that he reports for training camp three months before the scheduled match.