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'This is the most focused I've seen Manny - ever'
By DOMINIC MENOR, GMANews.TV
During their preparations for the Hector Velazquez fight in September 2005, Freddie Roach considered taking Manny Pacquiao to Arizona to train. The idea was to isolate Pacquiao from the elements that were distracting him from his preparations at (the easily accessible) Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. Roach would ditch the plan, however, and close camp in Hollywood. It comes with the territory. You train the most popular Filipino athlete, the greatest Asian boxer, and one of the most bankable fighters in the world, you should expect an entourage, a media throng and dozens of your client's followers to stick their noses, cameras and tape recorders, and pens for autographs. But Roach wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't put a lid on Pacmania even if it meant turning off some people. The last time GMANews.TV got Roach on the phone, he sounded genuinely pleased that people took a step back and allowed Pacquiao to work out. And if anybody broke the harmony, Roach warned, that individual should watch out. "I got a security personnel at the door and a police officer." He paused. "With a gun." he chuckled. Roach can pull the trigger, he's proven that. As far as comedic timing is concerned, he can be a dead aim.
Week Two 6:15 p.m., Wednesday, October 15 Wild Card Gym, Hollywood MANNY'S been very calm. Just working on the game plan. Same as always. Nothing different there. He's very focused. I'm very pleased with that. We started to run the mountains in the morning for the first time. He's a little bit sore today but he'll get over that tomorrow. -o0o- The body shots are one of the keys to the fight because we know Oscar's weak to the body. Bernard Hopkins proved that once. When he fought Felix Trinidad, Oscar started running when he was being hit on the body. We're going to take advantage of Oscar's height and work on the inside. Today we did 12 rounds on the mitts. We worked on the mistakes we made yesterday. Just the strategies for the fight. We had a full workout. Altogether we worked 34 rounds today. We'll max out at 50 rounds. -o0o- I think Oscar is going to come out and try to outbox us. With Nacho Beristain in his corner, I think he'll try to be a counterpuncher like Juan Manuel Marquez. He'll try that but when that stops working he'll be lost. The thing is, Oscar has his good and bad days. He isn't sharp everyday. Pacquiao is sharp everyday. He's consistent. Oscar struggled to work through it at times because of his age. Thing is, when we get older, we get slower. It's a natural fact and he can't do anything about it. When I say he can't pull the trigger, his timing isn't quite what it was. And Manny Pacquiao is still a fresh young fighter who can pull the trigger. I feel Manny can knock out Oscar. I know I'm very confident but I really feel that way. Manny feels that way. And we're having a great training camp so far. We're still on our second week into it. Everything's looking really, really good. -o0o- Felix Sturm is a fighter from Germany who wants me to train him. He offered his assistance and he said that if he could, he would love to help us prepare Manny. He may come over but that decision hasn't been made 100 percent yet. But if he does come over, he'll be able to help us out. He's being courteous and he just wants to help and he'll be part of our stable very soon. Felix has the height and he has a very educated left hand. We all know Oscar's a left-hander and that's his bread and butter. He knows Oscar's style very well. I thought he beat Oscar when they did fight each other. (De la Hoya beat Sturm via unanimous decision in June 2004. The loss forced Sturm, who was 20-0 coming into that bout, to give up his world middleweight championship. - Ed) Felix has the height. He's got a good jab. He's a very good boxer. -o0o- We completely closed the Wild Card Gym. Nobody's been allowed in. I'm asking Manny's friends to leave. I'm asking my assistant trainers who are not working with this fighter to leave. The only people who are in the gym are the people who have a job - people who are working with Manny, sparring partners, coaches that's all. When somebody comes in, like HBO, ESPN - obviously they're the media - they have to make an appointment. I'll let them film the first day of sparring but that's the last day of sparring anyone will see until the fight because I just want to give them a taste of what Manny's up to. After this, the succeeding sparring sessions will be closed-door. 100 percent. We've been cutting down on allowing people inside the Wild Card in every fight since Manny lost to Erik Morales. I've learned my lesson about letting people in and we've been cutting back more and more each fight. This is the biggest fight of Manny's life so this is really, really a strict, strict training camp. Some of his friends are mad at me but the bottomline is, we're doing this for the best interest of Manny. At the end of the day they all understand that. -o0o- This is the most focused Manny I've seen without a doubt. Ever. I got a call today from the Oakland Raiders who wanted this Philippine day happen in Oakland at the football game and they asked me if Manny could come up there. So I told Manny, "Do you want to come up to Oakland? The flight is in and out really quick." And he says, "We're in training camp, Freddie. Tell them no." So he's very focused and I'm happy about that. The offer was made and I don't keep any secrets to Manny. I would've told him not to go anyway but he told me he wouldn't so it's good. I just wanted to see where he was headed with that. He came up with a beautiful answer.
About Freddie: Nobody gives a more accurate, more intimate, more insightful portrait of Manny Pacquiao's training than Freddie Roach. Roach was voted Trainer of the Year three times (2003, '06, '07) by the Boxing Writers Association of America. His high-profile clients besides Pacquiao have included Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, and Mike Tyson. Before being a well-known trainer, Roach was a professional boxer from 1978 to 1986. He first trained Manny Pacquiao in 2001, Pacquiao's debut in the US.
Week Two 6:15 p.m., Wednesday, October 15 Wild Card Gym, Hollywood MANNY'S been very calm. Just working on the game plan. Same as always. Nothing different there. He's very focused. I'm very pleased with that. We started to run the mountains in the morning for the first time. He's a little bit sore today but he'll get over that tomorrow. -o0o- The body shots are one of the keys to the fight because we know Oscar's weak to the body. Bernard Hopkins proved that once. When he fought Felix Trinidad, Oscar started running when he was being hit on the body. We're going to take advantage of Oscar's height and work on the inside. Today we did 12 rounds on the mitts. We worked on the mistakes we made yesterday. Just the strategies for the fight. We had a full workout. Altogether we worked 34 rounds today. We'll max out at 50 rounds. -o0o- I think Oscar is going to come out and try to outbox us. With Nacho Beristain in his corner, I think he'll try to be a counterpuncher like Juan Manuel Marquez. He'll try that but when that stops working he'll be lost. The thing is, Oscar has his good and bad days. He isn't sharp everyday. Pacquiao is sharp everyday. He's consistent. Oscar struggled to work through it at times because of his age. Thing is, when we get older, we get slower. It's a natural fact and he can't do anything about it. When I say he can't pull the trigger, his timing isn't quite what it was. And Manny Pacquiao is still a fresh young fighter who can pull the trigger. I feel Manny can knock out Oscar. I know I'm very confident but I really feel that way. Manny feels that way. And we're having a great training camp so far. We're still on our second week into it. Everything's looking really, really good. -o0o- Felix Sturm is a fighter from Germany who wants me to train him. He offered his assistance and he said that if he could, he would love to help us prepare Manny. He may come over but that decision hasn't been made 100 percent yet. But if he does come over, he'll be able to help us out. He's being courteous and he just wants to help and he'll be part of our stable very soon. Felix has the height and he has a very educated left hand. We all know Oscar's a left-hander and that's his bread and butter. He knows Oscar's style very well. I thought he beat Oscar when they did fight each other. (De la Hoya beat Sturm via unanimous decision in June 2004. The loss forced Sturm, who was 20-0 coming into that bout, to give up his world middleweight championship. - Ed) Felix has the height. He's got a good jab. He's a very good boxer. -o0o- We completely closed the Wild Card Gym. Nobody's been allowed in. I'm asking Manny's friends to leave. I'm asking my assistant trainers who are not working with this fighter to leave. The only people who are in the gym are the people who have a job - people who are working with Manny, sparring partners, coaches that's all. When somebody comes in, like HBO, ESPN - obviously they're the media - they have to make an appointment. I'll let them film the first day of sparring but that's the last day of sparring anyone will see until the fight because I just want to give them a taste of what Manny's up to. After this, the succeeding sparring sessions will be closed-door. 100 percent. We've been cutting down on allowing people inside the Wild Card in every fight since Manny lost to Erik Morales. I've learned my lesson about letting people in and we've been cutting back more and more each fight. This is the biggest fight of Manny's life so this is really, really a strict, strict training camp. Some of his friends are mad at me but the bottomline is, we're doing this for the best interest of Manny. At the end of the day they all understand that. -o0o- This is the most focused Manny I've seen without a doubt. Ever. I got a call today from the Oakland Raiders who wanted this Philippine day happen in Oakland at the football game and they asked me if Manny could come up there. So I told Manny, "Do you want to come up to Oakland? The flight is in and out really quick." And he says, "We're in training camp, Freddie. Tell them no." So he's very focused and I'm happy about that. The offer was made and I don't keep any secrets to Manny. I would've told him not to go anyway but he told me he wouldn't so it's good. I just wanted to see where he was headed with that. He came up with a beautiful answer.
About Freddie: Nobody gives a more accurate, more intimate, more insightful portrait of Manny Pacquiao's training than Freddie Roach. Roach was voted Trainer of the Year three times (2003, '06, '07) by the Boxing Writers Association of America. His high-profile clients besides Pacquiao have included Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, and Mike Tyson. Before being a well-known trainer, Roach was a professional boxer from 1978 to 1986. He first trained Manny Pacquiao in 2001, Pacquiao's debut in the US.
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