Filipino fighting senator Many Pacquiao starts going into the motion of winding up his preparation today , still three weeks into his comeback fight with World Boxing Organization welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas .

This Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach announced last Saturday as his prized pupil capped a week had the heaviest load in his training program consisting of 12 rounds of sparring with a pair of training mates and another 12 rounds of doing the mitts with his decorated chief corner man .

The coming six days ends the eight division champ ’ s six-week camp in Manila after which Team Pacquiao moves to Los Angeles in California for another week of applying the finishing touches at Roach ’ s Wild Card Gym before motoring to Las Vegas in Nevada where the ring icon will try to recapture the 147-pound crown in a 12-round showdown on November 5 ( November 6 in Manila ).

“ Everything has been set in place so I believe we have to slow down a little bit next week to give Manny the needed break ,” Roach told this writer after the dozen round with the mitts . “ Manny went 12 rounds of sparring today ( Saturday ), six against Joe ( Mexican- American Jose Ramirez ) and four against a local boy and he ended up still wanting for more .”

The seven-time ‘ Trainer of the Year ’ was referring to former World Boxing Council and Eurasian Youth welterweight beltowner Sonny Kabandagho , a substitute sparring partner , who filled in for regular mate Leopoldo Doronio , who fell sick .

“ Not that Manny ’ s already reached his peak , but we ’ re heading to that . He ’ ll be there , Roach assured . “ We still have three spar-

ring sessions next week and several rounds more with the mitts which we believe are enough before going through the fine-tuning phase of the camp two weeks from now in L . A .”

“ Starting Monday ( Oct . 17 ), we ’ ll be looking for things that we missed and filling in the void ,” Roach explained . “ We ’ ll try to improve a little bit here and a little bit there to be sure that we cover all bases down the stretch of our preparation .”

Strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune echoed Roach ’ s evaluation , saying that everything , including several minor glitches , indeed , has been addressed rather quickly .

“ There was this mild cold ( not flu as several media outfits reported ) that struck Manny ,” Justin recalled . “ Then the old leg cramps that suddenly recurred plus his responsibilities as senator , which at a certain point somewhat intervened in his training regimen .”

“ But thanks to Manny ’ s superb physical condition , we survived all that . Truth is , under normal circumstances , this final three

weeks would ’ ve been the toughest and the most crucial , but as we ’ ve been saying this camp has been going on smoothly , we don ’ t need to go into that ,” Fortune said , adding that the situation has given him the chance to leave for the U . S as early as today .

“ Yeah , I ’ m going ahead of the rest of the team today , knowing everything that has to be done in making Manny in tip-top shape

comes fight night has been done ,” Fortune attested .

Members of the training team -- assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez , Nonoy Neri and Roger “ Haplas ” Fernandez -- agreed to Roach and Fortune ’ s projections .

“ Ako , sa tingin ko nasa peak na si Manny two weeks ago pa . Kaya nga na-survive niya lahat ng distraksyon na dumating habang nag-e-ensayo . Pero agree din ako that there ’ s still room for improvement para maka-siguro ,” Buboy , Pacquio ’ s bosom friend since childhood , said .

Even basketball star Jason Castro couldn ’ t hide his admiration seeing Pacquiao workout that

day .

“ Sobra ang lakas at bilis ni Manny . Sobra ang energy niya ,” the Talk “ N Text sentinel , considered s Asia ’ s finest point-guard today , who confessed seeing Pacquio in action for the first time , observed . “ Palagay ko kahit sinong makalaban ni Manny , hindi mananalo .” ●

- philboxing ( Photos by Wendell Rupert Alinea )