MANILA, Philippines ? Freddie Roach has become so discriminating and hard-to-please that he wants no less than a knockout victory by Manny Pacquiao against bitter arch-rival Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, USA
?Victory is no longer enough. I want Manny to KO Marquez,? said Roach from Baguio City, site of Pacquiao?s training camp.
Roach and Pacquiao are only in their second day together but the 51-year-old trainer sounded off that he?d like to see Marquez either gets flattened like Ricky Hatton or the referee comes to the Mexican?s rescue as what had happened to Miguel Cotto.
Marquez had posed serious threats to Pacquiao in their first two encounters and Roach said he believes Pacquiao winning by stoppage should put a closure to the seemingly never-ending debate on who among the two is the better man.
Roach said Pacquiao is no longer the one-dimensional slugger that struggled against Marquez in 2004 and has even dramatically improved from the semi-technical puncher that he met in 2008.
Roach is so confident this time that the 38-year-old Marquez will be lucky to be vertical by the eight or ninth rounds.
?I?d be surprised if the fight goes eight or nine rounds,? Roach said during the New York leg of the press tour early this month.
Pacquiao, 32, Roach said, will take a different approach against the durable Mexican in the rubber match.
?Manny won?t fight him the way he did in the past,? said Roach, who arrived in the country Tuesday morning from Los Angeles.
The Baguio training camp will last until the first week of October and the remaining weeks will be spent at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
