MANILA, Philippines — With less than two months before he reports for training camp in Baguio City, Manny Pacquiao has already decided what to do for pre-conditioning.

"Pretty soon Manny will be playing lots of basketball so he could start his conditioning regimen,” Pacquiao’s adviser Mike Koncz said from Los Angeles.

Koncz said he has already conferred with trainer Freddie Roach about the start of training camp for the May 7 showdown with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“It’ll be Baguio and Freddie is willing to stay three or four weeks there and then head back to the Wild Card,” said Koncz, who is returning to Manila at the end of the week to have Pacquiao deal with some business and personal matters.

Koncz was in the Las Vegas home of Top Rank chief Bob Arum Tuesday night and the Hall of Fame promoter laid out the itinerary for the promotional tour that is scheduled next month.

Arum said the kickoff event will be a press conference on Feb. 10 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles followed by similar gigs in Las Vegas (Feb. 12), New York (Feb. 14), Washington, D.C. (Feb. 15) and San Francisco (Feb. 16).

“Michael is going to run this (schedule) with Manny,” said Arum, who is hoping that his bigwigs friends in Washington can arrange a meeting between the Filipino puncher and President Barack Obama.

Even though the risks of getting injured is high when playing hoops, Pacquiao insists the rough-and-tumble action of the sport prepares him for training camp.

Koncz, who spent two weeks with Pacquiao when they vacationed in Japan and Australia during the holidays, said his boss is not taking Mosley for granted even though the US fighter is pushing 40 years old.

“I spent some time with Manny talking about Mosley and he is not saying that Mosley is dangerous for the sake of hyping the fight,” said Koncz.

“Shane Mosley is somebody who Manny hasn’t fought,” added Koncz.

Nick Giongco, Manila Bulletin