CONDITIONING WILL play a major role in Manny Pacquiao’s rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas, according to the Filipino’s trainer Freddie Roach, who will tap the services of an African and Californian sparring partners to help in the preparation.
“The thing is Manny will have to train hard for this fight,” said Roach. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Manny will beat him but he has to work hard in training. He can’t allow Barrera to outbox him as this will be Barrera’s gameplan.”
If Pacquiao dedicates himself to training as he had done many times in the past specially when he is up against a formidable foe, Roach doesn’t see Barrera going the distance.
“Barrera won’t last with Manny,” said Roach, who expects Pacquiao to report for training at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood on Aug. 1.
“I already have two guys, one from Orange County who had sparred with Manny in the past and I also have an African kid who comes forward a lot and he’ll work with Manny mainly for conditioning,” said Roach, dismissing the opinion of many that Pacquiao will easily get rid of Barrera in their scheduled 12-rounder at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
“It’s not an easy fight for Manny,” added Roach.
A superbly-conditioned Pacquiao was flawless the first time he and Barrera fought at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in Nov. 2003, where the GenSan southpaw scored an 11th-round knockout when one of the Mexican’s cornerman went up the ring to signal that Barrera has had enough punishment.
Pacquiao has a tendency of taking his training lightly if the fellow he’s facing is not in the caliber of Erik Morales or Juan Manuel Marquez and the reason why Pacquiao’s supporters fear that he might take Barrera for granted is the fact that Barrera’s skills have stagnated the past 12 months.
When Pacquiao fought unheralded Thai Fahsan 3K Battery in Dec. 2004, he only trained for less than a month and when he met rugged but crude Mexican Hector Velazquez in Los Angeles in Sept. 2005, Pacquiao prepared for only one month.
Against Mexican Jorge Solis in his last outing on April 14, Pacquiao’s training was on and off and the only time he was able to concentrate was when he arrived in Los Angeles on March 21.
