Manny Pacquiao playing with fire -- Examiner

By Joseph Bourelly, Examiner.com

With word spreading from Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach over the weekend that the pound-for-pound great boxer is having his worst training camp ever in preparation for Antonio Margarito on November 13th, eyebrows have certainly been raised. Has a seemingly easy fight for Pacquiao on paper suddenly become more competitive due to his lack of focus?

The short answer is quite possibly.

Famed boxing trainer Teddy Atlas talks extensively in his autobiography about the need for fighters to be professional, and slacking off by any means is cheating one’s self out of the best opportunity to win. Behaving less than professional in training camp also provides a boxer with an excuse should he/she happen to lose the fight.

It takes a very special fighter to do the things necessary to prepare for an opponent each and every time out, and Manny Pacquiao’s focus and preparation for each fight under the tutelage of Freddie Roach has been by all accounts outstanding until now. Although always distracted to some extent by activities such as acting and singing as well as a huge entourage, Roach seems to be especially concerned this time around about Pacquiao, citing politics as the newest and most powerful extracurricular pulling his man’s attention away from boxing.

Recently elected a congressman in his native Philippines, Freddie Roach claimed Manny Pacquiao takes the job very seriously and loves the work. While life at the top in boxing is always a very temporary status bestowed upon a fighter by fans and the media, it is extremely important for every boxer to prepare for life after boxing. Given Manny Pacquiao’s high level of wealth, he should have many choices, but politics seems to be his calling. This is fine and dandy, but it doesn’t change the fact that he must face an opponent in the ring less than two weeks from today.

Although a lot has been made of Antonio Margarito’s lack of credibility as a solid opponent for The Pacman, it really doesn’t matter who the opponent is at Cowboys Stadium. Whether he is staring across the ring at nothing more than a trial horse such as Margarito or a thoroughbred such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao owes it to himself and his fans to walk into that arena knowing he has the best chance to win.

He cannot have that level of confidence unless he subjects himself to his normal, disciplined and grueling training regiment, so there in lies the problem. By not giving 100% in training for Margarito, Manny Pacquiao has opened a host of possibilities in terms of the bout’s outcome.

This reverts back to Teddy Atlas’ idea of being a professional in the gym and handling one’s business. If Pacquiao had been handling his business the right way throughout camp, Margarito or virtually anyone else for that matter would have almost no chance to emerge victorious, but by slacking off a bit in training, now who knows?

The point is small things matter in a sport where careers and lives hang in the balance during each and every fight. In this sport, playing with fire is a very dangerous and bad idea. One wrong move often leaves a man lying on his back staring with a glazed look at the ring lights above.

Source: examiner.com