TAGAYTAY CITY — The drive from my place in the coastal town of Rosario in Cavite to here took just a little over an hour.
The distance covered: 38 kilometers.
The trip took place Thursday, a day after a Muslim holiday.
As the people in the lowlands complain about the seating heat, the weather here was a pleasant 28 degrees when I arrived before 11 a.m.
Too bad I won’t be spending the night as my brief visit here is just to check out the training camp of a fast-rising Filipino puncher named Kenneth Llover.
He’s been here the last four weeks, doing steep climbs in the morning and reporting for gym work in the afternoon.
On 6 June in Aichi, Japan, Llover will face fellow undefeated knockout artist Michael Angeletti.
The prize is highly-coveted.
The winner gets to fight for Mexican Jose Reyes Salas’ International Boxing Federation bantamweight title.
Surprisingly, Llover is the betting favorite but Angeletti is a live underdog.
Angeletti doesn’t look like Floyd Mayweather.
But he fights like Floyd, something that worries Llover’s camp because the comparison is not hyperbole.
Angeletti is a super fighter who can elect to box or even fight inside.
Recently, he told Llover: Pick your poison.
But given Llover’s built and skill set, he will not allow Angeletti to dance around like Mayweather.
Their clash is being hyped as a Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao showdown because Llover has uncanny similarities with the eight-division champion.
Aside from being a southpaw, Llover’s defense is his offense.
And this is what they are going to lean on once the bell rings at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname.
I am intrigued by the matchup because, yeah, it certainly looks like a Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch.
Heartbroken by Mayweather’s victory over Pacquiao 11 years ago, I am craving for some sort of revenge.
In Llover, I can see the Pacquiao of old.
Not in years but in terms of performance.
Told that Angeletti is a gifted fighter, Llover insists he is not bothered by it.
In fact, Llover is aching to get back on the Nagoya-bound plane so he can start taking care of business.
If there’s one thing that I like about Llover it is his mind set.
He has the Pacquiao mentality — the winning mentality.
