LOS ANGELES ? Freddie Roach took a good, clean shot from Manny Pacquiao, one to the neck, during their mitts session Thursday.
?A little bit harder and I?d be sleeping,? he said.
Yes, one punch is all that?s needed for Pacquiao to floor anybody inside the ring.
That includes Floyd Mayweather Jr., who stakes his undefeated record against Pacquiao on May 2 at the MGM Grand.
Mayweather hasn?t been knocked down in 47 fights, although against Zab Judah in 2006, the American went down from a right hook.
But the referee, Richard Steele, ruled it a slip, and he remained unscathed. Sportshub ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Against Pacquiao, according to Roach, the 38-year-old Mayweather can go down from a single punch.
?I believe so. I believe so,? he said.
If it?s the kind of punch that landed on Ricky Hatton in 2009, then Mayweather could be gone ? in 60 seconds.
Just as quick as 500 fights tickets were sold Thursday.
Roach believes that Pacquiao, no longer the one-handed fighter that stepped into the Wild Card Gym 14 years ago, has the heaviest left hand in the business.
?Manny has a lot of power in his left hand. And we?ve been working on that a little bit more than usual. That was always his best punch,? he said.
?We kind of switched for a while and went to the right hand. But fighting a right-handed fighter who moves the way Floyd does the left hand will be the key punch for us,? said Roach.
Actually, either hand can hurt Mayweather.
?I would say yes but the left is more powerful at this point,? according to Roach.
