Manny Pacquiao has the titles, the accolades, the 38 knockouts and the knee-buckling, haze-inducing left.
He has been crowned Fighter of the Year three times and then named, amid universal assent, the Fighter of the Decade. Last year, Ring Magazine again anointed him with the unofficial but revered title as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world; but many observers go even further, arguing that Pacquiao must be included among the best fighters ever to step between the ropes and into a ring.
And some of that might have been possible without Freddie Roach. Some, but not all. Certainly not all.
Unprepossessing, with thick black-rimmed glasses and a boyish hairstyle that belies the blunt square face of a former boxer, Roach is the man behind the throne -- and in Pacquiao's corner Saturday at
Cowboys Stadium, where the champion will defend his welterweight title against former champion Joshua Clottey.
No, Roach doesn't possess the dazzling left hook, such as the one that sent Juan Manuel Marquez to the canvas in 2008. That inimitable left belongs to Pacquiao. But as Pacquiao's trainer, Roach has perfected and directed the boxer's powerful left. Most important, Roach has complemented it with defensive skills and with a formidable right, such as the one Pacquiao employed last year against Ricky Hatton.
With a right hook, Pacquiao knocked Hatton down twice in the first round. And with his right, Pacquiao set up the left, which in the second round hit Hatton like a truck he never saw coming.
Pacquiao has become the only fighter ever to win seven world titles in seven different weight classes, starting with the flyweight title back in 1998. A hero in his native Philippines, he already had a title before coming to this country. And so he accomplished much before he ever met Roach.
And then in 2001 Pacquiao walked into Roach's Wild Card Boxing gym in Los Angeles to prepare for a super bantamweight title fight with Lehlohonolo Ledwaba of South Africa. A late replacement for Enrique Sanchez, who was injured, Pacquiao had only two weeks to get ready for a formidable champion who had lost only once in his career. The fight, as it turned out, ended in the sixth round with a Pacquiao victory.
"The first day I worked with him, he was amazing," Roach said about Pacquiao. The 22-year-old had inherent speed, ability and power. But he needed a boxing education; he needed Roach.
Since then, since he and Roach became a team, Pacquiao has gone from being a very good fighter to a great fighter to one of the greatest. Bob Arum, the Harvard educated Top Rank promoter who described Pacquiao as the greatest fighter he has ever seen, said the boxer's relationship with Roach is "magical."
At the very least, it's highly successful. And that success, to some degree, has a strange source -- or, if not a source, an unusual ameliorating influence. Roach, who turned 50 Friday, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1990. And Parkinson's, he said, has made him a better trainer.
As a fighter, Roach had a record of 39 wins and 13 losses. But Roach continued fighting even after his trainer, the legendary Eddie Futch, urged him to quit. Roach lost five of his last six fights, and he blames his Parkinson's on the punishment he took in the ring.
"It can't be proven, but it's assumed," Roach said about boxing contributing to his disease. But Parkinson's, a degenerative brain disorder that can affect one's movement, speech and other functions, has made him more sensitive to the dangers of the ring and more appreciative of defense.
"It's made me more aware of protecting of my fighters," Roach said. "I'm probably more cautious now. I'll stop a fight if there's a problem. I have a responsibility to my fighters. I take care of my fighters."
Describing his own career in the ring, Roach said he was a "give-and-take" boxer, one who would trade punches, gladly taking one in exchange for the opportunity to give one back; and he would get so caught up in the excitement of the fight, the sheer physicality of it, that he would forget about defense.
When Pacquiao came to this country, he had a title, but he also had been knocked out twice. He, too, was a "give-and-take" type of fighter, Roach said, albeit one who was supremely gifted. And so Roach emphasized defense. Be a moving target, side to side, in and out, up and down: A moving target's hard to hit.
And then there was that neglected right hand. When Pacquiao came here, he was, Roach said, "a one-handed fighter." Pacquiao relied so heavily on that incredible left that he had little confidence in his other tools and rarely used them. And so in 2005, when Erik Morales figured out how to evade and avoid the PacMan left, he was able to take away the super featherweight title.
That was a turning point, Roach said. And Pacquiao hasn't lost since. It has taken years, Roach said, years of relentlessly working, but Pacquiao has become the greatest boxer in the world.
"And he's still improving," Roach said. "He's getting better all the time.... He'll overwhelm Clottey with his speed. I'm predicting he'll stop Clottey before the 12th round.
"Clottey, Roach said, may be bigger. "But size doesn't win a fight; skill does."
Roach has trained 27 world champions. And he said he's never seen a greater fighter than Pacquiao. But, of course, Pacquiao has had a great teacher and trainer.
gwest@star-telegram.com
Source: star-telegram.com
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