Roach keeping a close eye on first round

LAS VEGAS – The first round of a boxing match is when fighters feel each other out.

But for the Manny Pacquiao-Keith Thurman clash here Saturday (Sunday, Manila time), the opening canto could very well spell the difference.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s longtime cornerman, said the winner of the fight could be determined as early as the first round.

“I think whoever takes control of that first round is going to have a big advantage,” Roach told reporters Friday (Saturday, Manila time) after Pacquiao and Thurman cleared the scales.

“The first round will tell me who's gonna win the fight. That's why we're coming hot,” added Roach.

He said he expects Pacquiao to fight more aggressively than he did in his previous fights, especially with the fact that the Filipino icon is fired up by Thurman’s verbal jabs.

“I like how Manny's a little bit angry, I think he fights well. He's smarter and better when he is,” Roach continued.

Despite Thurman’s advantages in reach and height, Pacquiao, through his in-and-out movement and ability to punch from odd angles, can force the WBA “super” welterweight champion to the ropes.

This is where Pacquiao can excel, according to Roach.

“I think Manny can back Thurman up. I plan on putting Thurman on the ropes in this fight and Manny being a little more aggressive there.

“And once he puts him on the ropes, I think he'll have him,” he explained.

Roach already envisions Thurman’s downfall.

“I think he'll stand toe to toe until Manny hits him. Bye bye,” he said.

source: philstar.com

Roach 'pleased' with Pacquiao's first day at Wild Card

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday (Thursday Manila time) made his return to Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Los Angeles to resume training for his mammoth clash with Keith Thurman next month.

And Freddie Roach, now a training consultant for the Filipino icon, liked what he saw.

“I was very pleased with Manny’s first day at Wild Card. [Assistant trainer] Buboy [Fernandez] and [strength and conditioning coach] Justin [Fortune] have him in great condition for the rigors of this part of training camp,” said the bespectacled cornerman.

Roach said a stubborn Pacquiao even went the extra mile in sparring.

“We were scheduled for six rounds of sparring and Manny insisted on going eight with two sparring partners,” he added.

Pacquiao, the WBA’s “regular” welterweight champion, will get a crack at Thurman’s undefeated record (the fighter from Clearwater, Florida is 29-0, with 22 knockouts) along with the American’s “super” title.

The 40-year-old Pacquiao, as was the case in his recent fights, will again be at a disadvantage in terms of youth against Thurman, who is 10 years his junior.

But that doesn’t bother Roach at all.

“Manny loves beating undefeated fighters, especially the younger ones,” he continued.

“Heck, at this stage of the game, everyone Manny faces is younger. But that makes it fun for Manny,” added Roach.

Pacquiao, who arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend, begins training day with a morning run either at the flat Pan Pacific Park or the more challenging, uphill Griffith Observatory. In the afternoon, he checks in at Roach’s famous sweatshop for the hard grind.

Roach, for his part, is intrigued by the Pacquiao-Thurman collision, which will be staged at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on July 20 (July 21 Manila time).

“This is a great match-up. Thurman has youth and size. I’m sure he will come into the ring with 160 pounds behind his big right hand. Manny will be under 150 [pounds],” Roach explained.

“But we will have speed and movement. Winning this fight will come down to taking chances. Manny proved in his last two fights, against [Lucas] Matthysse and [Adrien] Broner, that he has his killer instinct back. Thurman better be prepared to shoot the works.”

Roach, a betting man, said he looks forward to a huge payday putting his money on his prized ward, who has been installed as the underdog against Thurman.

“I haven’t made a bet in a long time, but the oddsmakers have brought me back.  I’m going to make a huge score betting on Manny in this fight,” said Roach.

source: philstar.com

Time running out for Pacquiao, Mayweather to book May megafight, says Roach; Floyd to announce decision on his birthday?

Time is running out for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather to book a May 2 showdown, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said Tuesday.

Amid a welter of reports in recent weeks that a deal for the much-anticipated bout was all but done, Roach warned that a decision would be needed soon if both fighters are to prepare adequately.

“We are getting really close,” Roach said of reaching a cut-off for declaring a May 2 fight a reality.

“I need eight weeks. That window is getting smaller and smaller.”

In fact, Roach said, he could make do with a slightly shorter training camp with Pacquiao, the eight-division world champion who said Monday in the Philippines that a deal was “near.”

On an eight-week schedule, the first fortnight would be core training and general conditioning, Roach said.

“The boxing would start six weeks out, because if you go more than six weeks with Manny you’ll burn him out because of his work ethic.”

Pacquiao is 57-5 with two draws and 38 knockouts, while Mayweather is 47-0 with 26 knockouts.

Fight fans around the world have clamored for years for a showdown between the boxers widely regarded as the best “pound-for-pound” fighters of their generation.

The Sunday Telegraph in Britain reported that the pair had agreed to a $250 million deal, although on Sunday night in New York, Mayweather said in a brief television interview during the NBA All-Star Game that nothing had been signed by either party.

Last year, Mayweather used the occasion of his 37th birthday on February 24 to announce his opponent for a May 3 bout — plumping for Argentina’s Marcos Maidana and snubbing England’s Amir Khan.

A similar birthday announcement by Mayweather would make for a nine-week lead time to a May 2 fight.

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum last month ignited buzz over the fight when he said negotiations had been “narrowed down to extraordinarily small points.”

On Tuesday, however, Arum took himself out of the prophecy business.

“I know nothing,” Arum said of the state of negotiations as he attended a public workout at Roach’s Wild Card gym for Chinese fighter Zou Shiming.

Roach, however, thinks the fight — which ran aground in 2009 — will happen.

“I think we’re close enough it will happen sometime in the near future,” Roach said. “Floyd says he wants to fight. Manny says he wants to fight. Fights get made like that.”

Pacquiao said this week he had agreed to the Mayweather camp’s demands regarding drug testing.

Pay-per-view bonanza

Published reports citing sources close to the Filipino ring icon have also said he has agreed to give Mayweather the lion’s share of what promises to be the biggest pay-day in boxing history.

“I think it would be the biggest fight of all time,” Roach said. “A lot of it has to do with the world we’re living in — you have pay-per-view almost everywhere.”

Those pay-per-view revenues have added another wrinkle to the negotiations, since the fighters are under contract to rival US telecasters, Showtime and HBO.

If fight fans do get the bout they’ve been waiting for on May 2, Roach has no doubt who will bring the fireworks, with Pacquiao ready to take some risks to make an exciting fight.

That’s not something he expects from Mayweather, a slick defender who Roach believes is reluctant to risk his unbeaten record.

“I don’t think he really cares about the fans,” Roach said of Mayweather. “I think he just wants to do enough to win. Manny’s not like that. That’s why Manny’s been knocked out a few times. That could happen again, but I’d rather see a fighter get knocked out trying to win than just trying to go the distance.”

source: interaksyon.com

Manny Pacquiao confident, Freddie Roach sees fourth round KO against Brandon Rios

MACAU – Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao declared he was back to his best as he weighed in comfortably under the 147 pound limit on Saturday ahead of his comeback fight against American Brandon Rios.

Asked if his army of fans in Asia would see the Pacquiao that lost both his last two fights in 2012 or the ferocious destroying force of 2006, his last ring appearance on the continent, “Pac-Man” oozed confidence and said it would definitely be the latter on Sunday morning.




“This fight is going to be different,” he told HBO television immediately after tipping the scales at 145 pounds.

Pacquiao, who will be 35 next month, has put himself though two months of intense physical preparation, “like when I was young”, in General Santos City in the lead-up to the World Boxing Organisation International welterweight championship bout.

“This is one of the longest training camps I had in my boxing career,” a smiling Pacquiao said. “We did our best training and we did it like when I was young,” added the only man to have world titles at eight different weights.

His Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach agreed. “This was the happiest and most productive camp I have had with Manny in years,” Roach said.

“Based on our last workout, I don’t see how Rios makes it past the fourth round.”

Pacquiao, a Filipino congressman, had to deal during training camp with the tragic distraction of Super Typhoon Haiyan tearing through his country on November 8, leaving more than 5,000 people dead or missing.

“I cried when I saw what had happened,” he admitted earlier this week. “To all the people and the families who have been affected by this storm, the typhoon: This fight is for you.”

Pacquiao enjoyed huge support from a large Filipino presence at the Cotai Arena for the 7:30 am (2330 GMT, Friday) weigh-in as chants of “Manny, Manny” rang around the auditorium.

“I’m so happy that the fight is in Asia and very close to the Philippines,” he said and paraded a T-shirt on stage reading “WBO Rescue Team – Yolanda (Haiyan) Relief”.

Rios came in just under the welterweight limit at 146 1/2 pounds, a pound and a half heavier than Pacquiao who is two inches shorter than the American.

The former lightweight world champion has never fought at welterweight but said the step up was no problem.

“I feel I’m 100 per cent of my weight now. I didn’t have to take any off,” said Rios after stepping on the scales.

“How am I going to beat him?” he said. “My heart and my balls. I’m hungry. I want that title.

“Here’s a message to Freddie Roach: Supposedly I’m a bum. I can’t make the weight. I’m a fat loser — you’ll see in the ring tomorrow.”

Fight promoter Bob Arum told AFP that it had been 38 years since his Top Rank organisation had held such an oddly-timed weigh-in, designed to cater to TV audiences in the US.

“The last time we did something like this early in the morning was Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier in 1975,” said Arum, referring to the “Thriller in Manila” which has gone down in history as one of the greatest heavyweight contests of all time.

“And what a fight that turned out to be.”

source: interaksyon.com

Freddie Roach wants long rest for Manny Pacquiao before next fight

LOS ANGELES — The future of Manny Pacquiao is hanging in the balance.

At around the same time Pacquiao was being feted during his arrival in Manila early Wednesday morning, his trainer Freddie Roach accommodated a handful of Filipino reporters at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, telling them that he’d rather see his No. 1 fighter rest than get back to the ring anytime soon.

Roach said he’d prefer that Pacquiao postpone his next fight to September.

“April or May is just too soon,” said Roach.

Pacquiao got knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez over the weekend in Las Vegas and it was the worst beating the soon-to-be 34-year-old future Hall of Famer had received in his 17-year career.

“I got to talk with Manny and we had a great conversation on what’s going to happen next and right now how he feels and we haven’t completely decided but we have a good idea,” said Roach.

“We are going to talk to (Top Rank head) Bob (Arum). Me, Manny and (adviser) Michael (Koncz) and me and Bob will sit down for the next decision. In my opinion, I believe he should get some rest. Don’t rush it.”

Roach said Marquez was losing the fight when he struck with his right hand on the overly-aggressive Pacquiao in the dying seconds of the sixth round.

Pacquiao fell as if somebody had hit his head with a baseball bat and he was motionless for about a minute, sending his corner in a frenzy.

Arum had earlier penciled an April fight for Pacquiao, but that was before Marquez posted his most impressive victory ever.

Pacquiao assured his fans in the Philippines that he will rebound strongly from the Marquez setback, saying the Mexican just got lucky and that he “will rise again.”

source: interaksyon.com

For Pacquiao, Sunday A Moment To Reflect

LOS ANGELES — Boxing took a backseat in Manny Pacquiao’s life on a Sunday that the Filipino fighter devoted fully to the enrichment of his religious transformation.

Less than a week before he faces Tim Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Pacquiao set aside his main profession to give way to attending Catholic services in the morning and a lengthy Bible preaching in the afternoon.

Pacquiao and wife Jinkee and their four kids went to mass and later heard the teachings of pastor Jeric Soriano in his apartment unit at the Palazzo and the boxer was particularly moved by Soriano’s remarks.

“Whoever controls your mind, controls your life,” said Soriano, son of the late actor Nestor De Villa, putting emphasis on positive thinking.

The bible study – attended by his US-based friends and supporters from the Philippines – was accompanied by lively music and singing.

Pacquiao said the preaching sessions will resume when he and his team arrive in Las Vegas as they take the 300-mile long journey after his last training and final sparring session on Monday at the Wild Card Boxing Club.

Trainer Freddie Roach has asked Pacquiao to report to the gym an hour earlier than usual so they could all be in Sin City before the clock strikes midnight.

Roach is lining up a four-round workout for Pacquiao possibly against Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia and the 52-year-old strategist said this will be par for the course.

Pacquiao will train until Thursday although it will be a light workout since Roach said everything’s been done during the past seven or so weeks starting in the Philippines in early-April.

source: mb.com.ph