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Manny Pacquiao posed for photos at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Juan Marquez in a welterweight boxing match in Las Vegas on Saturday.
NEW YORK » Manny Pacquiao did some training with a heavyweight for his next bout: Charles Barkley.
Barkley and fellow NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller visited the boxing megastar in camp before his fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, the subject of a 30-minute special that will air Thursday on TNT after the network’s NBA doubleheader.
“Charles & Reggie: Toe to Toe with Manny Pacquiao” features clips in which Barkley and Miller spend time with Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif. — Barkley even having to steady himself while holding the heavy bag as Pacquiao hits it. Miller also joins Pacquiao on his morning run through Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
Barkley, who once famously brawled with Shaquille O’Neal in a game, says that “as a boxing fan, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”
He and Miller, both TNT analysts, are also shown shooting baskets with Pacquiao, a basketball fan who last year delayed his ring entrance so he could watch the end of a Boston Celtics playoff game.
Pacquiao fights Marquez on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
