By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Trainer Freddie Roach spoke to FanHouse in this Q&A following Wednesday's open workout for the international media, the third day for Manny Pacquiao of preparation at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood since the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king arrived in Los Angeles on Monday from Bagiuo City following weeks of work in his native Philippines.
Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 knockouts) is readying for a Nov. 13 main event at The Dallas Cowboys of an HBO pay per view televised, Top Rank Promotions WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) title clash opposite former titlist Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs), against whom he will pursue his eighth crown in as many weight divisions.
How was the first big media day at the Wild Card for Manny Pacquiao?
Freddie Roach: It was like another day at the office. We just sort of went through the motions. We showed them just a little bit. We just didn't do too much to give away our game plan.
What did Manny do today?
Not too much. We did eight rounds on the mitts, we hit the double-end bag, hit the speed bag, jumped some rope a little bit, did some shadow boxing. You know. Just a little short gym workout.
Normally, we do 12 or 13 rounds on the mitts. Today, we cut it in half. That's just because, like I said, we didn't want to give too much away.
Why is it always better for Manny to be at the Wild Card than it is for him to be in Baguio City of the Philippines for his last few days of training before a big fight?
There are so many fewer distractions. This is always where he prepares himself for the big fights. This is our home base. This is where his comfort zone is. This is where he knows that the fight is getting really close. This is where we always start to get the most serious.
This is where everything begins. Like I said, there are a lot less distractions here in Los Angeles. There are not as many officials and no politicians coming in to drag him out and stuff like that.
Do you think that for this camp, more than perhaps any other, has been bothered by more distractions than in the past?
Well, we had trouble getting focused. I mean, we worked hard, but we had a lot of distractions. We only had to miss one workout when the president of the Philippines wanted to see him.
With Manny being in Congress, I mean, you know, with Manny being a congressman, that's something that in his heart he really wants to be his best at it. We had a little trouble getting his focus.
But once we got back here in Los Angeles, you know, everything sort of fell back into place. Everything is back on schedule.
Over the next few days, do you anticipate that any of his sparring partners will include Amir Khan, Julio Cesar Chavez or Vanes Martirosyan or Glen Tapia?
Right now, we're using Rashaad Holloway, we have David Rodela, Ray Beltran, and, there was this one other kid from Detroit, but I forget his name right now. But Manny broke his nose yesterday, so he's out.
Have you seen any video or any pictures of Antonio Margarito, who apparently has a six-pack and reportedly appears to be in tremendous shape?
I mean, who gives a sh**. I mean, really? Who cares? I'm just trying to get my guy ready. He's getting ready for a world title fight. That's what he's supposed to be in, great shape. But I don't give a sh** what he does.
I don't care about Antonio Margarito. I don't care if he fights at 175 pounds. Who cares? I mean, he's getting ready for a world title fight. If he doesn't get ready, then he's a fool. That's what people do.
He's doing what he's supposed to do. The thing that I hear is that he's in great shape. But like I said before, he should be in shape for a world title fight.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Pacman back on Kimmel show -- FightNews
FightNews.com
Tune in this Monday night, November 1 as Manny Pacquiao returns to ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” at 12:05 a.m. Following in the tradition of Pacquiao’s previous visits, he will be performing a musical number – this time with the help of fellow guest, actor Will Ferrell. Pacquiao is currently in training in Los Angeles for his November 13 WBC junior middleweight championship match with Antonio Margarito in Texas. Last year Pacquiao serenaded the live studio audience with a rendition of the love song, “Sometimes When We Touch.”
Source: fightnews.com
Tune in this Monday night, November 1 as Manny Pacquiao returns to ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” at 12:05 a.m. Following in the tradition of Pacquiao’s previous visits, he will be performing a musical number – this time with the help of fellow guest, actor Will Ferrell. Pacquiao is currently in training in Los Angeles for his November 13 WBC junior middleweight championship match with Antonio Margarito in Texas. Last year Pacquiao serenaded the live studio audience with a rendition of the love song, “Sometimes When We Touch.”Source: fightnews.com
Manny Pacquiao not enjoying L.A. camp -- ESPN
By Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- When Manny Pacquiao finally made his way past the autograph hounds and the process server to climb the rickety staircase to the Wild Card Gym, he was met by dozens of fans, fellow fighters, reporters and even a television star, all wanting a moment before his workout.
Hollywood is jam-packed with distractions for the world's top pound-for-pound boxer -- and the Pacman isn't even a congressman in this country.
Trainer Freddie Roach says Pacquiao is having the worst training camp of his career heading into his Nov. 13 meeting with Antonio Margarito in Texas.
In the five months since he won a congressional seat in his native Philippines, boxing has lost some of its urgency for Pacquiao. Roach can even cite physical evidence their careers have been hurt by politics.
"He has a foot problem, and that's because he wears dress shoes too much," Roach said, referring to the nagging left heel injury that has slowed Pacquiao's running.
Although Roach thinks he'll have no problem putting together a speed-based game plan to beat the bigger Margarito, he's worried about Pacquiao's ability to execute it. The fighter who flawlessly teamed with boxing's most respected trainer to forge a 12-fight winning streak just doesn't have the same focus, or even the same drive.
"At two in the morning, I'm walking around Baguio pulling my hair out, saying, 'What do I have to do?'" Roach said, referring to the Filipino city where they trained before returning to Los Angeles last weekend.
"I know his mind is off the fight. I know his mind is somewhere else, and that's because of politics. If there are no more challenges out there after this fight, this could be it. If Floyd (Mayweather Jr.) doesn't come to the table, I don't know what's going to challenge him. He loves his other job, and he might be done with this one."
Roach hopes the move stateside will help, although the hubbub Wednesday at the open workout suggested otherwise.
After Pacquiao apparently was served with papers in an envelope on the way into the gym, he quickly got his hands wrapped before walking slowly around the ring in the Wild Card's stifling heat, patiently answering questions from dozens of reporters. Perhaps after greeting actor Jeremy Piven, Pacquiao would be ready to train.
"I've been under pressure and tough conditions before," Pacquiao said. "The training is going good, but the problem is aside from training, there's lots of stuff to do. ... I'm thinking about (retirement), but I can still fight. I think I'll do a few more."
The mob scene in L.A. is a sea of tranquility compared to home, where the 31-year-old spends at least part of each day as the Honorable Emmanuel D. Pacquiao, freshman congressman from the Sarangani province. Although he's formally excused from legislative duties during training, he still takes regular phone calls from his staff, sometimes even in the middle of workouts.
And for the first time in his career with Roach, Pacquiao took a day off from training to travel to Manila for a meeting with President Benigno Aquino III, although Pacquiao claims he got in a workout there.
"Even if it was the worst training camp we ever had, he never missed a day before," Roach said.
Pacquiao has suggested he'll make it up to Roach by proposing a bill to grant Filipino citizenship to the trainer, who says he has never voted in an American election.
"I'd still vote for Manny if I'm a citizen," Roach said, laughing.
In his spare time, Pacquiao also has a wife and four kids, gestating careers in singing and acting, and a variety of business interests including a greater marketing push for his Nike apparel.
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, acknowledges his fighter's life has become ridiculously complicated, but doesn't share Roach's pessimism.
"These things would be distractions to any other fighter or any other human being," Arum said. "Not Manny. He has the ability to multitask like nobody else I've ever seen. He doesn't let distractions affect his performance. I've seen him go from meetings all day to a workout, and then he'll wash up and eat and go to band rehearsal."
Arum also promotes Margarito and has an interest in talking up the fight, but even he can't discount Pacquiao's fearsome abilities.
"If Manny is trained and is in good condition, because of his skill set, he should be able to handle Margarito," Arum said. "He's just different than anybody else fighting today. The only guy who comes close to those abilities is Floyd."
Pacquiao won't stop politicking even on this continent: He's headed to Las Vegas on Friday for a quick campaign stop in support of Harry Reid, the Democratic senator and combat sports advocate in a tight race with Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle.
Yet Pacquiao claims he has plenty of time to get his mind and body right to face Margarito, the hard-punching Mexican with a 5-inch height advantage. The fight is at a 150-pound catch weight, but the winner will get a 154-pound title, which would be a belt in Pacquiao's eighth weight class.
"I have to win this fight to prove I can move to a higher division easily," Pacquiao said. "That's my role, to fight bigger men."
And bigger obstacles at every turn.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Source: sports.espn.go.com
LOS ANGELES -- When Manny Pacquiao finally made his way past the autograph hounds and the process server to climb the rickety staircase to the Wild Card Gym, he was met by dozens of fans, fellow fighters, reporters and even a television star, all wanting a moment before his workout.
Hollywood is jam-packed with distractions for the world's top pound-for-pound boxer -- and the Pacman isn't even a congressman in this country.
Trainer Freddie Roach says Pacquiao is having the worst training camp of his career heading into his Nov. 13 meeting with Antonio Margarito in Texas.
In the five months since he won a congressional seat in his native Philippines, boxing has lost some of its urgency for Pacquiao. Roach can even cite physical evidence their careers have been hurt by politics."He has a foot problem, and that's because he wears dress shoes too much," Roach said, referring to the nagging left heel injury that has slowed Pacquiao's running.
Although Roach thinks he'll have no problem putting together a speed-based game plan to beat the bigger Margarito, he's worried about Pacquiao's ability to execute it. The fighter who flawlessly teamed with boxing's most respected trainer to forge a 12-fight winning streak just doesn't have the same focus, or even the same drive.
"At two in the morning, I'm walking around Baguio pulling my hair out, saying, 'What do I have to do?'" Roach said, referring to the Filipino city where they trained before returning to Los Angeles last weekend.
"I know his mind is off the fight. I know his mind is somewhere else, and that's because of politics. If there are no more challenges out there after this fight, this could be it. If Floyd (Mayweather Jr.) doesn't come to the table, I don't know what's going to challenge him. He loves his other job, and he might be done with this one."
Roach hopes the move stateside will help, although the hubbub Wednesday at the open workout suggested otherwise.
After Pacquiao apparently was served with papers in an envelope on the way into the gym, he quickly got his hands wrapped before walking slowly around the ring in the Wild Card's stifling heat, patiently answering questions from dozens of reporters. Perhaps after greeting actor Jeremy Piven, Pacquiao would be ready to train.
"I've been under pressure and tough conditions before," Pacquiao said. "The training is going good, but the problem is aside from training, there's lots of stuff to do. ... I'm thinking about (retirement), but I can still fight. I think I'll do a few more."
The mob scene in L.A. is a sea of tranquility compared to home, where the 31-year-old spends at least part of each day as the Honorable Emmanuel D. Pacquiao, freshman congressman from the Sarangani province. Although he's formally excused from legislative duties during training, he still takes regular phone calls from his staff, sometimes even in the middle of workouts.
And for the first time in his career with Roach, Pacquiao took a day off from training to travel to Manila for a meeting with President Benigno Aquino III, although Pacquiao claims he got in a workout there.
"Even if it was the worst training camp we ever had, he never missed a day before," Roach said.
Pacquiao has suggested he'll make it up to Roach by proposing a bill to grant Filipino citizenship to the trainer, who says he has never voted in an American election.
"I'd still vote for Manny if I'm a citizen," Roach said, laughing.
In his spare time, Pacquiao also has a wife and four kids, gestating careers in singing and acting, and a variety of business interests including a greater marketing push for his Nike apparel.
Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, acknowledges his fighter's life has become ridiculously complicated, but doesn't share Roach's pessimism.
"These things would be distractions to any other fighter or any other human being," Arum said. "Not Manny. He has the ability to multitask like nobody else I've ever seen. He doesn't let distractions affect his performance. I've seen him go from meetings all day to a workout, and then he'll wash up and eat and go to band rehearsal."
Arum also promotes Margarito and has an interest in talking up the fight, but even he can't discount Pacquiao's fearsome abilities.
"If Manny is trained and is in good condition, because of his skill set, he should be able to handle Margarito," Arum said. "He's just different than anybody else fighting today. The only guy who comes close to those abilities is Floyd."
Pacquiao won't stop politicking even on this continent: He's headed to Las Vegas on Friday for a quick campaign stop in support of Harry Reid, the Democratic senator and combat sports advocate in a tight race with Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle.
Yet Pacquiao claims he has plenty of time to get his mind and body right to face Margarito, the hard-punching Mexican with a 5-inch height advantage. The fight is at a 150-pound catch weight, but the winner will get a 154-pound title, which would be a belt in Pacquiao's eighth weight class.
"I have to win this fight to prove I can move to a higher division easily," Pacquiao said. "That's my role, to fight bigger men."
And bigger obstacles at every turn.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Source: sports.espn.go.com
Manny Pacquiao reveals: I am praying for Floyd Mayweather Jr. -- Examiner
By Michael Marley, Examiner.com
HOLLYWOOD--All the world is Manny Pacquaio's stage and he reconfirmed Wednesday afternoon that he still relishes his role going into his 57th professional fight.
Pacquiao tries for a record eighth world division title (at junior middleweight) against Mexican retread Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium.
According to Megamanny himself, he enjoys playing the giantkiller.
FIGHTING BIGGER, STRONGER GUYS LIKE MARGACHEATO:
“My role is to fight a bigger man. Of course I don't have to fight these bigger guys but this is my role in boxing.”
ON CLIMBING EVEN HIGHER TO 160 POUNDS AND TAKING ON SIX FOOT, TWO INCH GIANT PAUL THE PUNISHER WILLIAMS:
“I don't think so (smiling brightly as one scribe described Pwill as being “seven feet tall).
ON FLYING FRIDAY NIGHT TO LAS VEGAS TO APPEAR AT REID'S SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN RALLY:
“I am going to support Harry Reid, I know him, I know about him.”
ON SPECULATION OF RETIREMENT FROM THE RING, EVEN THOUGH HE WILL ONLY TURN 32 IN DECEMBER:
“I'm not thinking of retirement now. I can fight a few more fights.”
ON FIGHTING OR NOT FIGHTING UNDEFEATED MAYWEATHER:
“I don't know if that fight can happen or not but I am fine if it happens or does not happen. I am praying for him (reference to Mayweather's criminal case involving Baby Mama Josie Harris).”
ON COACH ROACH SAYING THEIR TIME IN BAGIO WAS 'WORST PACMAN TRAINING CAMP EXPERIENCE EVER:'
“There were some problems . We can learn from our mistakes on that."
ON HIS RECENT POWOW WITH PRESIDENT NOYNOY AQUINO:
“We only talked about politics, not boxing. He wants to watch my fight but he is too busy (working) for the Philippines.”
ON ROACH NOW BEING A FILIPINO CITIZEN:
“We just passed a bill and made Freddie a citizen. (Manny laughed when I asked if his trainer must pay Filipino taxes now.)
ON HIS CONGRESSIONAL DUTIES:
“We don't have Congress right now, Congres is on vacation. Congress for me is public service and I don't mix it with my other businesses.”
ASKED AT START OF INTERVIEW WHY HE SEEMED GRUMPY (at about 2pm PDT):
(Smiles) “Because I just woke up.”
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
HOLLYWOOD--All the world is Manny Pacquaio's stage and he reconfirmed Wednesday afternoon that he still relishes his role going into his 57th professional fight.
Pacquiao tries for a record eighth world division title (at junior middleweight) against Mexican retread Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium.
According to Megamanny himself, he enjoys playing the giantkiller.It was Media Day at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym and the Fighting Congressmany debriefed assembled reporters on various germane topics like so:
FIGHTING BIGGER, STRONGER GUYS LIKE MARGACHEATO:“My role is to fight a bigger man. Of course I don't have to fight these bigger guys but this is my role in boxing.”
ON CLIMBING EVEN HIGHER TO 160 POUNDS AND TAKING ON SIX FOOT, TWO INCH GIANT PAUL THE PUNISHER WILLIAMS:
“I don't think so (smiling brightly as one scribe described Pwill as being “seven feet tall).
ON FLYING FRIDAY NIGHT TO LAS VEGAS TO APPEAR AT REID'S SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN RALLY:
“I am going to support Harry Reid, I know him, I know about him.”
ON SPECULATION OF RETIREMENT FROM THE RING, EVEN THOUGH HE WILL ONLY TURN 32 IN DECEMBER:
“I'm not thinking of retirement now. I can fight a few more fights.”
ON FIGHTING OR NOT FIGHTING UNDEFEATED MAYWEATHER:
“I don't know if that fight can happen or not but I am fine if it happens or does not happen. I am praying for him (reference to Mayweather's criminal case involving Baby Mama Josie Harris).”
ON COACH ROACH SAYING THEIR TIME IN BAGIO WAS 'WORST PACMAN TRAINING CAMP EXPERIENCE EVER:'
“There were some problems . We can learn from our mistakes on that."
ON HIS RECENT POWOW WITH PRESIDENT NOYNOY AQUINO:
“We only talked about politics, not boxing. He wants to watch my fight but he is too busy (working) for the Philippines.”
ON ROACH NOW BEING A FILIPINO CITIZEN:
“We just passed a bill and made Freddie a citizen. (Manny laughed when I asked if his trainer must pay Filipino taxes now.)
ON HIS CONGRESSIONAL DUTIES:
“We don't have Congress right now, Congres is on vacation. Congress for me is public service and I don't mix it with my other businesses.”
ASKED AT START OF INTERVIEW WHY HE SEEMED GRUMPY (at about 2pm PDT):
(Smiles) “Because I just woke up.”
(mlcmarley@aol.com)
Source: examiner.com
Pacquiao’s handlers not fretting over form -- Yahoo! Sports
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports
Bob Arum has promoted boxing for nearly half a century and has seen a lot of strange things, but it’s a rare day when he watches a 6-1 favorite train and thinks he’s looking at a 6-1 underdog instead.
Pacquiao is set to face Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in a challenge that Arum knows will be much more difficult than the nearly 6-1 odds that favor Pacquiao would indicate. Throw out Margarito’s one-sided loss to Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, 2009, and the odds would likely favor Pacquiao by no more than 8-5, perhaps less.
And so, after having flown halfway around the world to check on Pacquiao’s preparations, Arum wasn’t particularly thrilled by what he saw on his first day in camp.
“I was totally surprised,” Arum said. “He looked lethargic. He wasn’t sharp. I was not very impressed.”
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, was thrilled when the team arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday and could set up camp for the final three weeks at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, but he said that Arum had nothing to worry about.
Roach is also blunt and never shy about giving his opinion. He said Arum just picked a bad day to show up at the gym.
“The day Bob got there, I will admit that he looked like [expletive],” Roach said. “The next day, he was back to himself. We’ve had good days and bad days and Bob showed up on a bad day. But we’re getting the bad days out of the way and Manny is doing what he should be doing and he’s getting where I want him to be.”
The first half of Pacquiao’s training camp was typically hectic. As a congressman in the Philippines, duties required him to make a six-hour drive from Baguio to Manila. He also had to fly to Manila for a meeting with President Benigno S. Aquino III, which didn’t sit well with Roach.
For most people, a meeting with a country’s president is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. For Pacquiao, it’s old hat, and Roach didn’t want him to go.
“He had to miss training one day because he had to meet the president and I said to him, ‘[Expletive] the president. We have a fight coming up you need to get ready for,’ ” Roach said.
Pacquiao chuckled about Roach’s concern and hopped onto the plane and fulfilled his commitment to meet Aquino. Pacquiao has become something of a legend for his ability to focus on the task at hand while seemingly in the midst of chaos, and both Arum and Roach said this time appears to be no different.
After his initial scare of watching Pacquiao struggle through a workout, Arum was relieved when he saw Pacquiao humming along like his old self the next two days.
He’s legitimately concerned about the challenge Pacquiao faces and said he needs to be at his best in order to win.
“You can’t be at top speed every day,” Arum said of Pacquiao. “The first day I was there, I definitely was concerned. Definitely. But on Monday and Tuesday, he showed marked improvements. He’s where he needs to be.”
Pacquiao has faced all sorts of different challenges since 2008, when he moved up from featherweight and began to regularly face much bigger fighters. He’s handled it with aplomb – ask Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, David Diaz and Ricky Hatton for their opinions if you need more evidence that Pacquiao can hang with the big boys – but he’s yet to face the type of challenge that Margarito poses.
The perception of Margarito’s chances has been skewed by his one-sided loss to Mosley, by his lengthy layoff as a result of his suspension for having been caught with loaded hand wraps prior to the Mosley fight and for Pacquiao’s huge speed advantage.
But it was less than two years ago that Roach was convinced that Margarito was too big and too physical for Pacquiao and was saying he’d never allow the two to meet. And though Pacquiao’s performance in the interim has caused him to change his mind, Roach still has much respect for Margarito.
And if the Mosley fight and the suspension hadn’t taken place, the outcome of the fight would be perceived much differently. Pacquiao has a massive speed advantage, but Margarito is far stronger and has an iron chin.
The only time he ever had a problem with his chin came in the Mosley fight, when he was stopped at 43 seconds of the ninth round. The controversy about the hand wraps that occurred in his dressing room earlier that night had an impact, but more so was the fact that in the three weeks prior to the fight, Margarito had to shed 35 pounds to make the welterweight limit of 147.
Margarito had still been celebrating his epic July 26, 2008, victory over Miguel Cotto and wasn’t in nearly the kind of shape he should have been when he faced Mosley. Hand wraps controversy or not, Margarito likely would have taken a beating that night because of the lifestyle he was living after the Cotto fight.
But he’s been working with trainer Robert Garcia diligently for the last several months and has been committed as he has ever been. The result, Roach said, is an exceptionally dangerous opponent for Pacquiao.
“I wish people would quit thinking Manny is just going to walk through this guy,” Roach said. “In my mind, this is the toughest fight of his life, by far. He’s the biggest, strongest guy Manny has ever fought. He’s got a big reach advantage. He’s got a lot of things going for him.”
Roach knows that Pacquiao is faster and quicker than just about everyone he faces and has become an expert at placing his punches and putting them together in combination. Margarito’s defense “sucks,” in Roach’s estimation, and he expects Pacquiao to be able to exploit that flaw.
If Pacquiao wins, Arum plans to make another run at making a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, but he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself because he realizes the seriousness of the challenge Margarito poses.
“I get it, but the more important thing is that Manny totally gets it,” Arum said. “Everyone in that camp does. I was a little concerned by what I saw that first day, but after the next couple of days, I realized that it was just one of those things. They are taking this fight very seriously, as they should, because anything less than their best effort is going to be a big problem.”
Source: sports.yahoo.com
Bob Arum has promoted boxing for nearly half a century and has seen a lot of strange things, but it’s a rare day when he watches a 6-1 favorite train and thinks he’s looking at a 6-1 underdog instead.
When Arum entered Manny Pacquiao’s training camp in Baguio City
, Philippines, on Oct. 16, he was stunned by what he saw from the man regarded as the best fighter in the world.
, Philippines, on Oct. 16, he was stunned by what he saw from the man regarded as the best fighter in the world.“He looked like [expletive],” Arum said in his typically gruff, blunt style.
Pacquiao is set to face Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in a challenge that Arum knows will be much more difficult than the nearly 6-1 odds that favor Pacquiao would indicate. Throw out Margarito’s one-sided loss to Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, 2009, and the odds would likely favor Pacquiao by no more than 8-5, perhaps less.And so, after having flown halfway around the world to check on Pacquiao’s preparations, Arum wasn’t particularly thrilled by what he saw on his first day in camp.
“I was totally surprised,” Arum said. “He looked lethargic. He wasn’t sharp. I was not very impressed.”
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, was thrilled when the team arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday and could set up camp for the final three weeks at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, but he said that Arum had nothing to worry about.
Roach is also blunt and never shy about giving his opinion. He said Arum just picked a bad day to show up at the gym.
“The day Bob got there, I will admit that he looked like [expletive],” Roach said. “The next day, he was back to himself. We’ve had good days and bad days and Bob showed up on a bad day. But we’re getting the bad days out of the way and Manny is doing what he should be doing and he’s getting where I want him to be.”
The first half of Pacquiao’s training camp was typically hectic. As a congressman in the Philippines, duties required him to make a six-hour drive from Baguio to Manila. He also had to fly to Manila for a meeting with President Benigno S. Aquino III, which didn’t sit well with Roach.
For most people, a meeting with a country’s president is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. For Pacquiao, it’s old hat, and Roach didn’t want him to go.
“He had to miss training one day because he had to meet the president and I said to him, ‘[Expletive] the president. We have a fight coming up you need to get ready for,’ ” Roach said.
Pacquiao chuckled about Roach’s concern and hopped onto the plane and fulfilled his commitment to meet Aquino. Pacquiao has become something of a legend for his ability to focus on the task at hand while seemingly in the midst of chaos, and both Arum and Roach said this time appears to be no different.
After his initial scare of watching Pacquiao struggle through a workout, Arum was relieved when he saw Pacquiao humming along like his old self the next two days.
He’s legitimately concerned about the challenge Pacquiao faces and said he needs to be at his best in order to win.
“You can’t be at top speed every day,” Arum said of Pacquiao. “The first day I was there, I definitely was concerned. Definitely. But on Monday and Tuesday, he showed marked improvements. He’s where he needs to be.”
Pacquiao has faced all sorts of different challenges since 2008, when he moved up from featherweight and began to regularly face much bigger fighters. He’s handled it with aplomb – ask Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, David Diaz and Ricky Hatton for their opinions if you need more evidence that Pacquiao can hang with the big boys – but he’s yet to face the type of challenge that Margarito poses.
The perception of Margarito’s chances has been skewed by his one-sided loss to Mosley, by his lengthy layoff as a result of his suspension for having been caught with loaded hand wraps prior to the Mosley fight and for Pacquiao’s huge speed advantage.
But it was less than two years ago that Roach was convinced that Margarito was too big and too physical for Pacquiao and was saying he’d never allow the two to meet. And though Pacquiao’s performance in the interim has caused him to change his mind, Roach still has much respect for Margarito.
And if the Mosley fight and the suspension hadn’t taken place, the outcome of the fight would be perceived much differently. Pacquiao has a massive speed advantage, but Margarito is far stronger and has an iron chin.
The only time he ever had a problem with his chin came in the Mosley fight, when he was stopped at 43 seconds of the ninth round. The controversy about the hand wraps that occurred in his dressing room earlier that night had an impact, but more so was the fact that in the three weeks prior to the fight, Margarito had to shed 35 pounds to make the welterweight limit of 147.
Margarito had still been celebrating his epic July 26, 2008, victory over Miguel Cotto and wasn’t in nearly the kind of shape he should have been when he faced Mosley. Hand wraps controversy or not, Margarito likely would have taken a beating that night because of the lifestyle he was living after the Cotto fight.
But he’s been working with trainer Robert Garcia diligently for the last several months and has been committed as he has ever been. The result, Roach said, is an exceptionally dangerous opponent for Pacquiao.
“I wish people would quit thinking Manny is just going to walk through this guy,” Roach said. “In my mind, this is the toughest fight of his life, by far. He’s the biggest, strongest guy Manny has ever fought. He’s got a big reach advantage. He’s got a lot of things going for him.”
Roach knows that Pacquiao is faster and quicker than just about everyone he faces and has become an expert at placing his punches and putting them together in combination. Margarito’s defense “sucks,” in Roach’s estimation, and he expects Pacquiao to be able to exploit that flaw.
If Pacquiao wins, Arum plans to make another run at making a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, but he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself because he realizes the seriousness of the challenge Margarito poses.
“I get it, but the more important thing is that Manny totally gets it,” Arum said. “Everyone in that camp does. I was a little concerned by what I saw that first day, but after the next couple of days, I realized that it was just one of those things. They are taking this fight very seriously, as they should, because anything less than their best effort is going to be a big problem.”
Source: sports.yahoo.com
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