MANILA, Philippines ? Sharing Freddie Roach?s time with Manny Pacquiao has not caused any problems with reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion Gerry Pe?alosa.
Pe?alosa is also at Wild Card Gym under Roach?s guidance as he trains for his upcoming fight against Puerto Rican Juan Manuel Lopez n April 25 in Puerto Rico.
Roach?s training time is divided with Pe?alosa in the morning and in the afternoon with Pacquiao, who is preparing for his scheduled 12-round match against Ricky Hatton on May 2.
?Freddie is a demanding trainer and well disciplined. During the morning, he works with me with my preparation for the fight, and in the evening he works with Manny Pacquiao. That has worked very well so far and he will be in my corner,” said Pe?alosa, in an interview with Boxingscene.com.
Pe?alosa also expressed confidence that he can beat Lopez. ?I feel confident that I can beat Lopez. I can fight tomorrow if necessary. So I feel good for what will be the most important fight of my career.”
Roach agrees with his ward. ?(Lopez) is a pretty solid fighter. We have a plan to take advantage of his weaknesses. If Gerry survives the early rounds, he will have a much bigger chance to win as the fight goes on.”
?Gerry has worked hard in the gym and we already have our plan for what is going to be a great fight,” Roach said.
He even pointed out some of Lopez?s weaknesses. ?We know that Lopez is a guy who starts strong and fast. He doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses, but we have seen several things and we will try to work on those during the fight.”
Roach added that Pe?alosa?s advantage is his experience. ?Lopez is going to come forward and be aggressive, so Gerry will have to use his experience. I have no doubt that as the rounds go on, Lopez will start to slow down and then we will get him.”
