LOS ANGELES — The great and tested Freddie Roach is in danger of being totally burned out in his race to prepare Manny Pacquiao for his monumental rematch against Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera.
Roach, indeed, has reworked the Pacquiao training program in order to make up for lost time, admitting they were late but readily assuring there was no need to cram.
Well and fine. Roach and Pacquiao need not work double time.
The problem is Roach has suddenly been left to perform two roles, a double job, in the run-up to the Oct. 6 rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.
Roach will do what he does best — train his prized warrior.
But, at the same time, he will have to oversee the physical conditioning of Pacquiao.
“No problem, I can do it,” Roach assured the Inquirer before departing for Manila and later linking up with Pacquiao in Cebu.
Roach may have had successfully assumed these twin roles with other fighters.
But, for the record, the similarly tested Justin Fortune, a one-time heavyweight fighter, had always been the main man behind Pacquiao’s fine physical form in all previous big fights here.
Now, for the first time in his sensational rise from the Wild Card gym here, Pacquiao will not have Fortune by his side.
There will be no certified perfectionist to meticulously program and drive him to peak physical power.
Fortune’s departure may not look serious but, whether they like it or not, there will be one major missing component in Pacquiao’s preparations against his legendary foe that was tipped to put up his fiercest best against his former conqueror.
A check by the Inquirer among gym hands and habitu?s said Fortune had a falling out with Roach over the 10 percent trainer’s cut in Pacquiao’s fight against Mexican Jorge Solis in San Antonio, Texas last April.
Roach had to work with Oscar de la Hoya in Puerto Rico for the fight against Floyd Mayweather, thereby leaving Fortune to handle the training for Pacquiao at Wild Card.
Roach was entitled to the ten-percent trainer’s cut, as stipulated in the contract.
However, Fortune reportedly ended up with the fat cut from the $2-million total purse.
Jeff de Guzman, a physical therapist who sometimes works for Team Pacquiao, said it was not a simple falling out.
“I will not be surprised if it reaches the courts,” De Guzman said.
De Guzman, who claimed he was with Fortune in a Southwest Airlines flight to Sacramento last week, said he was told of the many problems Pacquiao could encounter in his bid to reach peak form against Barrera.
