Boxing losing its grip on Pacquiao? -- Philippine Star

By Abac Cordero, The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Could this be the last fight for Manny Pacquiao?

It could be if you listen to his chief trainer Freddie Roach who must be feeling he’s losing his grip on Pacquio or that the latter is losing his grip on the sport that’s been so good to him.

Roach mentioned politics as the main reason.

“We are going to lose Manny Pacquiao to politics, for sure,” Roach told BBC World Service as he and Pacquiao and their small entourage prepared to leave for Los Angeles last night.

They’re just three weeks away from a big fight, big as in literally big, against Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13 in Arlington, Texas. It will be for the vacant WBC super-welterweight crown.

While Pacquiao has faced taller opponents before, from Erik Morales to Oscar dela Hoya to Miguel Cotto, he’s never faced one as big as Margarito, a welterweight the day he was born.

Margarito stands just a shade under six feet, much, much taller than the 5’ 6” 1/2 Pacquiao, and by fight time, may climb the ring at the Cowboys Stadium at 160 lb or heavier than that.

Pacquiao, Roach said, will climb the ring no heavier than 150, because any excess pound would lessen his speed, which, coupled with his brute strength, is his bread and butter.

Pacquiao was scheduled to leave for Los Angeles last night, after a hard sparring session at the Elorde Boxing Gym. In LA they would train for two weeks, then head to Texas on Nov. 8.

Pacquiao trained for four weeks in the Philippines, mostly in the summer capital of Baguio City, where Roach must have seen something he’d never seen before in his prized ward.

Definitely it’s not the speed that’s always been there during his climb from 106 lb to being the welterweight champion and pound-for-pound king. It’s something else.

“I’m worried about the fight a little bit,” Roach told BBC.

It was the first time Roach, who first hooked up with Pacquiao in 2001, aired any doubt on Pacquiao’s chances, and if BBC got him correctly, and there’s no question about that, then that’s one hell of a quote.

“We’re fighting against a big, strong guy who’s going to be in great shape and we’re a little behind schedule which is very unusual,” Roach was also quoted as saying.

Up in Baguio, where fresh strawberries abound, Roach tried hard, very hard, to hide his dissatisfaction over the way Pacquiao has weighed his priorities, from being a boxer and a congressman.

Twice, on weekends, Pacquiao broke camp and headed down 250 km down to Manila, and twice he skipped going to the gym, one when he wasn’t feeling well and the other when he was to meet the President.

Several times he also skipped his roadwork, either because he played too much basketball with friends the night before, or because the weather just wouldn’t cooperate. This time of the year in the Philippines is a stormy one.

No wonder Roach had wanted to drag Pacquiao into that plane to LA as early as last Thursday.

“After the first couple of days of training Manny came up to me and said ‘I miss my job’, and I said ‘you’re at your job’, and he said ‘no, I miss Congress.’” Roach said during the BBC interview.

Bob Arum flew in last week, and in his first visit to the Shape Up Gym in Baguio, what he saw was a different Manny Pacquio.

The legendary promoter, one who calls a spade a spade, said he didn’t see the speed, the kind of speed that Pacquiao would need to beat Margarito, and lay claim to his eighth world title in eight different weight classes.

“This Pacquiao is not enough,” said Arum.

“I’m not sure if it’s the size of the sparring partners that’s giving him trouble or he’s just not himself yet,” Roach added, referring to Pacquiao’s sparring partners who all stand close to six feet.

One of Pacquiao’s consultants said the entry of Amir Khan as a sparring partner woke up Pacquiao. No, it wasn’t Amir Khan who woke him up, but his 78-year-old promoter.

When Arum is worried, it means something’s wrong.

Arum even said that if the fight were held this week, then Margarito would win. But by the time Arum flew back to Las Vegas, last Thursday, Pacquiao was in his old self.

The 31-year-old champion trained hard under the rain the other day when others would have tucked themselves in bed. He was his usual self, and later in the afternoon trained at the gym like no other.

Facing the cameras, Pacquiao said he still can’t see the day he would quit the sport.

“Sa ngayon, kaya pa naman natin. Hindi pa dumating yung panahon na tinatamad na tayo sa ensayo (As it is, I can still manage. The day I get tired going out to train hasn’t come yet),” he said.

“Minsan sa tao kasi yung iniisip natin kaya pero yung katawan iba (It’s just that sometimes, the mind is willing but the body is not),” added Pacquiao, who begged for prayers from his countrymen for the fight.

“Sana ipagdasal ninyo ako sa Nov. 14 na ito. Karangalan natin lahat ito. Para sa inyo. (This is for our honor. This one’s for you),” he said.

Arum is lining up two fights for Pacquiao next year. Roach wants one with Floyd Mayweather Jr. before they all “get the hell out of there.”

But it’s up to Pacquiao to say that after the Margarito fight. Could it be his last? People should start praying that it’s not.

Source: philstar.com