Failure to follow a trainer’s game plan can lead to disaster.
This was the telling lesson learned by Oscar Larios when he lost by unanimous decision to hometown boxing icon Manny Pacquiao on Sunday, Rafael Molina, the Mexican’s manager, said.
“Larios made a mistake after the third round, a very serious mistake. He caught Pacquiao in the third round with a left hook so he though he could knock him out,” said Molina.
“But then he fought the wrong fight. Until the third round he was fighting the right fight. He disobeyed his trainer. And that’s why he lost,” he added at the press briefing after the fight at the Araneta Coliseum.
Larios’ handlers were translating Molina’s words into Mexican, and the boxer, who wore sunglasses to cover a swelling left eye, could only nod knowingly.
“If he had kept to his trainer’s instructions, then it is possible Oscar could have won. But he didn’t make a bad impression,” Molina said. “If they fight again, the outcome could be different.”
Pacquiao himself was guilty of the same mistake in the early going, American trainer Freddie Roach said, especially when the Filipino got tagged in the third round by the Mexican on the ropes.
“Manny wasn’t following our original strategy. That’s why Oscar caught him ‘sleeping’ on the ropes. I wasn’t happy with the way he was fighting in the first six rounds. The last six he was following our game plan,” Roach said.
But Larios, who was fighting for the first time at 130 pounds, showed that he was not in the same class as the Filipino boxer, his vaunted speed and power seemingly blunted by the added weight.
Pacquiao opted at the beginning to test his foe until he got hurt by “Chololo” in the third round when the Mexican sprung his surprise assault as the bell sounded.
But from the fourth to the 12th and last round, the bout’s complexion entirely changed with the Filipino pug, not wanting to disappoint his hometown fans, attacking virtually at will.
“A boxer really has to raise his level twice or thrice if he wants to fight someone like Manny, who’s on top of his game,” American manager Shelly Finkel said.
But can Pacquiao get past Erik Morales when they slug it out for the third time on November 18 with the same nonchalant attitude he displayed against Larios?
“No,” was Roach’s curt reply.
