LOS ANGELES — His bags were packed, Freddie Roach was ready to go but, cornered, the celebrated trainer reluctantly bared the exclusive plot on how Manny Pacquiao could again stop Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera in their scheduled rematch in Las Vegas.
You see, there are only two people in the boxing world who can claim exclusive knowledge of the multimillion dollar secret on how Pacquiao could be stopped.
These two fellows are, of course, Roach and Pacquiao himself.
Now, this may sound odd. But didn’t Roach, in divulging their battle plans for the Oct. 6 rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Nevada, was also giving tips on how to beat Pacquiao?
You’re free to agree or not.
But it goes without saying that Barrera will next be working to offset the three winning points generously delivered by Roach from his counter at the Wild Card gym, a few hours before departing for Manila Tuesday.
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In order to ensure victory, Roach said that: 1) They will make Barrera work fulltime every minute of each round; 2) They will push him harder, because Barrera cannot fight going back; 3) They will emphasize on more right hooks, as these should prove totally alien to Barrera, considering Pacquiao only had his left as main weapon in their last encounter.
Roach explained: “It’s no secret Barrera cannot fight effectively for three full minutes of every round. He had to slow down, pace himself. Otherwise he would easily fag out. We will give him hell and make him work every second of each round. The guy doesn’t know how to fight going back, so we will double the pressure. As to the third point, if he got stopped cold by Manny’s left hand the last time, how does he hope to cope with Manny’s new killer right hooks?
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That’s it. Barrera can deny, but he will definitely take note and make adjustments based on these pointers.
Of course, Barrera would be too na?ve to believe every word of what Roach had to divulge about their winning plot.
The Roach-Pacquiao tandem definitely has more aces up the sleeves, deadly secrets that the trainer would no longer agree to bare.
The Barrera camp cannot also retort and say Roach was only bluffing.
Barrera would be wise to heed the open warning because, as shown in Roach’s frantic haste to catch Pacquiao in Cebu and resume their stalled regimen for the Oct. 6 blockbuster, the Filipino boxing superhero should again be a blazing KO machine in his next fight.
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Of course, Pacquiao also has to wrestle hard with a late calendar.
“We’re late,” Roach admitted, explaining they had originally planned to use eight full weeks to bring Pacquiao to peak perfection.
At least, Roach has assured there’s enough time to make up for the lost minutes, caused by Pacquiao’s mysterious departure for Manila on Friday, after he bolted Wild Card.
Roach would not comment on claims coming from Manila, after Pacquiao finally emerged from hiding, that the abrupt departure by the national boxing hero was part of an original plot for him to train longer in the Philippines.
“He was complaining of the heat, but he chose it there,” Roach said.
So the Cebu training for Pacquiao was not part of the normal process?
“I’ve never expected something normal, in the first place,” Roach stated half-smiling.
