Freddie Roach has a lot of respect for Angelo Dundee, the Hall of Fame trainer who will be brought to Big Bear to help Oscar De La Hoya prepare for the Dec. 6 war with Manny Pacquiao.
“He?s got a lot of experience and he?s a great guy,” Roach, chief trainer of Pacquiao, told the Bulletin yesterday from the Wild Card Boxing Club, when asked about his reaction to the Golden Boy?s decision to tap Dundee as a special consultant to Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain.
While Dundee?s addition to Team De La Hoya appears to be more of a Halloween treat than a trick, Roach remains unperturbed and is of the belief that Pacquiao will simply be too much for the fading De La Hoya.
“I don?t care if Oscar has Major Dundee in his camp,” Roach told ace publicist Fred Sternburg. “No one is going to be able to help Oscar pull the trigger when he faces Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6.”
Before becoming a successful trainer based in New York, Dundee boxed in the US Army during World War II.
Still, Roach is aware of what somebody like Dundee can do.
“He?s a great motivator,” said Roach, who has had a few chances of working closely with Dundee while he was trying to make a name for himself as a trainer.
Dundee is best known for being the cornerman of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard and it was during Ali and Leonard?s fights that Dundee blurted out a couple of boxing?s most memorable quotes.
With Ali looking as though he was “ready to be staked out in the sun,” as described by Mark Kram in his classic piece about the 1975 Thrilla in Manila that came out in Sports Illustrated, Dundee literally pushed Ali out of the corner for the 14th round.
“He?s all yours,” exclaimed Dundee to Ali as Joe Frazier appeared wasted as well on the opposite corner.
A round later, Frazier was not allowed by his equally-revered trainer, Eddie Futch, to answer the 15th round.
Six years later in Las Vegas, Dundee would re-enact the same thing and holler at Leonard that “you?re blowing it son. You?re blowing it,” thinking that Thomas Hearns was way ahead on the scorecards.
The same thing happened and Leonard stopped a fast-fading Hearns in the 14th round of their epic welterweight clash.
Roach, however, doesn?t see Dundee taking the spotlight for the third time.
“Manny?s going to knock De La Hoya out,” said Roach, who revealed that Pacquiao?s sparring session steps into another gear this coming week.
After presiding over Pacquiao?s six-round workout with Marvin Cordova, a super-welter from Texas and Amir Khan, the British lightweight star, the 48-year-old Roach said Pacquiao will begin sparring a total of eight rounds on Tuesday.
