Llover’s winning mindset


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.
Three decades after the Marcopper mining disaster devastated Marinduque’s waterways, the province is again pressing the…
Housing is probably the biggest issue affecting people the world over.
Malacañang on Monday called for a more thorough investigation into the questioned flood control projects in Taguig…
The defense on Monday backed the move by senator-judges to exclude a prosecution witness who testified on the firearms…