By Ponciano “John” Melo Jr.
A taste of his kaldereta version turned Cliff Ramat Manzano from a former Filipino boxer into one of Manny Pacquiao’s favorite cooks.
A dish he prepared before Pacquiao faced off against Adrien Broner last January caught the taste buds of the Filipino boxing icon as he requested Manzano to cook for him again.
“Noong una’y katuwaan lamang sa laban ni Broner, nag-request sila ng kambing at ako’y napagluto nila ng kaldereta. At noong natikma’y hinahanap ay hindi ko alam kung bakit,” said Manzano.
While doing his job as a cook, Manzano was also able to see the conditioning of Pacquiao and as a former boxer, he evaluated Manny at 95% as he continues to increase his training before their fight on July 20 at the MGM Grand Arena.
Manzano hasn’t been a part of team Pacquiao since his last fight but he is with the team whenever they have their training.
And according to him, Pacquiao is doing great on his sparring session with reports that he knocked down one of his sparring partners.
“Ayon sa nakasaksi sa Wildcard gym na hindi natin papangalanan, ay bumagsak. Pinagbagsak niya ang mga sparring partner niya at kinawawa,” Manzano elaborated.
Team Pacquiao is all hands in helping the senator every way possible to be better and win. Manzano’s kaldereta might help Pacquiao dirt the clean record of Thurman.
The native from Villasis, Pangasinan got a call from Pacquiao that sent him back to California.