Having won an extremely dubious decision against Carlos Hernandez last year, Bobby Pacquiao needed to prove his worth as a serious contender. And that he did, pummelling veteran Kevin Kelley last weekend in New York on the Miguel Cotto/Paulie Malignaggi under card.
Pacquiao, a hard working, technically sound fighter, was thought by many to be too slow and plodding to make it to the top. If he could beat a fast, slick fighter like Kelley, then maybe he could take what he had and compete with top fighters in his division.
Kelley, although 38 years old, had been in good form coming into the bout, beating four good opponents in a row after losing to Barrera in 2003. He seemed to still have the speed and power to fight at the top level, and a match up with Pacquiao was on paper, a competitive fight.
“Well you know, Kelley is a slick southpaw, we just worked on how to fight a south paw, going to the body” said Roach, who was not in the corner on fight night, but prepared his charge back in Los Angeles.
“Kelley is a mover and he has good legs, but if you go the body on the old man, take his legs away, we wanted to pressure him and use some power and everything worked out like we planned it”.
In four action packed rounds, Pacquiao started tentatively, but took the fight to Kelley after two rounds. Kelley displayed some nifty footwork and defensive skills early on, but it was clear at 38 that he could not fight at the pace Pacquiao was setting.
A huge left hand dropped Kelley at the end of the third, and from then on, Kelley simply covered up and tried to weather the storm.
Coming on like a hurricane, Pacquiao gave ‘The Flushing Flash” little chance to gather his senses, and a pulverising body shot sent the New York native to the canvass again. Writhing in agony, Kelley was in no state to get up, and the fight was stopped half way through the fourth round.
Coming off probably the biggest win of his career (at least legitimately), Bobby Pacquiao now looks poised to make an impact on the 130lb division.
“They are talking about giving us an eliminator fight for the title,” said Roach.
“So hopefully by the end of the year we will be fighting for a title.”
And does the veteran trainer think he can go all the way?
“I think he can win a world title”, he replied sincerely.
“He’s finally growing out of his brothers shadow,” he continued. “He used to train, and just go through the motions, you know, just happy to be the brother of Manny Pacquiao, but now he wants to be his own man, he’s dedicated himself and he’s training very hard”.
“Now he wants his own identity, and he’s becoming a better fighter all the time.”
