TOP TRAINER Freddie Roach has had enough of Manny Pacquiao’s antics.
From 1-3 p.m. starting Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning in Manila), Roach will begin a closed-door training session with the Filipino boxing star as there are 45 days remaining before the July 2 date with Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum.
Roach has a set of rules made specially for Pacquiao’s training that includes a direct order not to return to the Philippines on June 3, the Bulletin learned yesterday.
“There’s going to be a lot of adjusting to do and I don’t like that,” said Roach yesterday morning when informed about the boxer’s desire to spend less than three weeks at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood so he could resume his training in Baguio.
“Going from one place to another is tiring,” said Roach, the tone of his voice, sounding very much against the proposal that Pacquiao spend three weeks in Baguio and the final seven days in the Manila area.
“When Manny gets in here, I will tell him to stay until late June,” said Roach, whose itinerary doesn’t include a trip to Manila as early as June 3. Roach said he will make the most out of Pacquiao’s presence and plan to fly to Manila with the fighter 12 days before the fight.
To show his 100 percent focus on the Larios fight, Roach said he would skip the June 10 fight of Bobby Pacquiao “just to be with Manny.”
Bobby, younger brother of Manny, is slated to battle Kevin Kelley of the US at Madison Square Garden in New York and he has already instructed conditioning coach Justin Fortune and Buboy Fernandez to take charge in Bobby’s corner.
Under Pacquiao’s plans, the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines gym in Baguio would be used for his training in June.
Roach said “in the first week of training camp, we would be doing the mitts and sparring will follow in the second week” after the recruitment of two sparring partners from Russia and a pair of Mexicans in the final phase.
Pacquiao had earlier been penciled to fly to the US on May 5, but it was postponed to May 13 and on Monday night, Pacquiao and adviser finally took the Philippine Airlines 10 p.m. flight to Los Angeles.
Unlike Pacquiao, Larios, the heavy underdog, has been training in Guadalajara since last week.
Meanwhile, US boxing agent Mike Koncz said Bobby has already logged 61 rounds of sparring at the Wild Card since arriving in the US on April 18.
“I guess Bobby wants to get away from the shadow of Manny and he looks determined in training,” Koncz said yesterday from his home in Orange County.
Kelley, according to Koncz, is also doing the same.
“My spies told me that Kevin is working out really hard at the Gold’s Gym in Las Vegas and I expect a tough fight,” said Koncz.
