When it comes to his prize charge Manny Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach has always been a confident man. Roach and Pacquiao first linked up for the General Santos City fighter’s June 2001 bout with Lehlo Ledwaba at the MGM Grand. At stake was the IBF Super bantamweight crown and Pacquiao fought with the desired urgency needed in registering a punishing 6th round TKO.
Roach and Pacquiao have amassed a 19-1-2 record together while stopping 15 of the opponents they have faced. Their relationship has gained greater exposure in recent years due to Pacquiao’s ascension in weight while storming through a list of quality opposition. The Filipino icon’s December 2008 bout with Oscar De La Hoya seemed to be the start of a new ride and in looking back and Roach’s pre-fight predictions on the contest you can sense his confidence.
“Oscar will have no place to go,” Roach would state. “I feel it will be his last fight, yes. I don’t think Oscar can keep up with us. If we work the body correctly and according to plan, I think he’ll fade.”
There were those who disagreed with the Massachussets trainer, however, seeing as though De La Hoya was the much larger man and had been competing with the world’ best fighters between 147 and 160 pounds for the past ten or so years. Elaborating on the machup further, Roach spoke with obvious respect towards De La Hoya while poinitng to his advanced age of 35 years old as a weakness.
"We’re not going to knock him out with one punch,” Roach claimed. “We're going to break him down. Oscar has a great chin so we're not going to win by one punch. When you get older, you don't absorb punches like you did when you were younger."
Roach’s prediction was eerily similar to how the fight would play out as Pacquiao bludgeoned De La Hoya round after round, forcing him to remain on his stool after the eighth. It was a resounding win and De La Hoya has not fought since the one-sided loss.
Almost immediately after the fight Pacquiao would set his sights on Manchester’s Ricky Hatton, a rugged and bruising brawler whose notable fights included a riveting upset over Kostya Tszyu and a crushing defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Hatton’s strength and pressing style was figured to give Pacquiao a few troubling moments and it was yet another high-profile affair for the tandem.
Following the Mayweather loss Hatton would ironically enlist in the services of the fighter’s father Floyd Mayweather Sr. a year later. The two men made for quite the interesting pair and Hatton’s November 2009 stoppage over brash Paulie Malignaggi seemed to signal a slight rejuvenation in the British fighter’s career. Heading into the Pacquiao fight Floyd Sr. was extremely vocal but Roach was far from concerned.
“Strengths? He doesn’t have any” Roach would say of Hatton while speaking from his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles just weeks before the bout. Roach went on to predict that his fighter would stop Hatton within three rounds, basing his prediction on Pacquiao’s superior quickness and accuracy.
The fight turned out to be one of Pacquiao’s most standout showcases as a prizefighter as he stormed out of the gates and began tagging Hatton repeatedly with piercing rights and lefts, dropping him twice in the first stanza. Towards the end of the second Pacquiao would end Hatton’s night with a flush left hand that iced Ricky’s world and Roach came off looking like a genius for his pre-fight proclamations.
Half a year later Pacquiao would meet Caugus, Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto in an attempt to wrestle away the WBO welterweight championship of the world. Cotto had built a career based on consistency and a punishing yet calculated style inside the ropes but his July 2008 TKO loss to Antonio Margarito seemed to be lingering.
Initially Roach had predicted that Pacquiao would win a decision over Cotto but as the fight drew closer he seemed to feel that a stoppage would be in play. Much of Pacquiao’s training camp was spent in Baguio City and despite the apparent distractions in his native Philippines, Roach insisted everything was going according to plan.
“He's too slow,” Roach would say of Cotto leading into the fight. “He cocks his left hook. He's got a good left hook, but he telegraphs it, he's not going to hit us with it. My guy is in great shape, everyone thinks because of the typhoon in the Philippines we didn't train but we never missed a day and he's in great shape.”
The Pacquiao-Cotto bout was a rousing battle for the first twelve minutes but Manny would drop his foe in rounds three and four before taking full command of the fight. Cotto faded terribly over the second-half of the fight and referee Kenny Bayless waived the bout off as Miguel was in dire straits along the ropes in the 12th.
After his victory people in the sport began eyeing a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather battle but negotiations between the two parties would fall apart as former champion Joshua Clottey stepped into the picture as a replacement foe for Manny. Rugged and physical, Clottey wasn’t looked at as an easy touch yet Roach felt a knockout was within reach.
"Clottey has a good defense but Pacquiao has a game plan specific to break Clottey's shell of defense and I believe Pacquiao's hands are too fast for Clottey's defense,” he would state. “I know Clottey has a good chin, but Manny will break him down to the body. I believe a win by knockout in the ninth is likely.”
The Pacquiao-Clottey fight was a disappointing fight because of the Accra, Ghana fighter’s unwillingness to engage. Pacquiao was busy throughout, throwing over 1200 punches, but he wasn’t able to break through Clottey’s high guard as he resisted a convincing decision win. Roach was off on his knockout prediction but correct in stating that they would work his body effectively and that the speed differential would be too great.
There is no certainty in how long Pacquiao will continue fighting and his upcoming November 13th fight with Antonio Margarito hasn’t exactly been welcomed with open arms. The fight that everybody wants to see is Pacquiao-Mayweather but instead we have to settle for Margarito, who still has a black cloud hanging over his head from his suspension from the California State Athletic Commission.
In his prime Margarito was looked at as one of the top Welterweights in the world due to his great size, unrelenting attack and ability to absorb punishment. Things are different now, as Margarito’s stock has certainly taken a hit while the contest will be for the vacant WBC Jr. Middleweight belt, but one constant is the fact that Roach is true to form in envisioning a victory for his man.
“He is a big, strong guy,” Roach said of Margarito in a recent BoxingScene interview. “I’m not overly worried about him. I’m not a big Margarito fan. Manny will have too much for him. It’s just the size I’m concerned about. Manny will start fast with this guy and we will finish with him fast.”
For images of Pacquiao’s victories over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey please continue on to the slideshow below…
Source: Examiner.com
