Freddie Roach expects a career-best display from Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night.
Pacquiao will step into the Las Vegas ring knowing victory over Marco Antonio Barrera in their eagerly-awaited rematch will take him to number one in many P4P lists.
And trainer Roach says despite all the talk of distractions outside the ropes, his man is primed and ready to put on his best performance yet.
That’s a chilling message for Barrera, who was battered to an 11th-round stoppage by the ‘Pacman’ in their first meeting in San Antonio back in 2003.
Roach said: “He’s a much more mature fighter now and he’s much stronger at the weight now. 130 is very strong. He’s becoming more of a complete fighter. And the thing is Manny is still learning and we’re trying a few new things and I think you’re going to see the best Manny Pacquiao yet.”
Pacquiao prepared for the big fight in a six-week training camp in Sabu in his native Philippines.
And despite the distractions that come with being a national hero, Roach says his man is fully focused on the job at hand.
“We had a great training camp. We brought the right sparring partners in for the fight. We had great sparring. Great camp.
“And the heat and humidity was very, very hot and hard to work in the heat of course but it prepared us for the fight because it’s going to be a hot fight if you add in the lights and so forth for TV.
“I’m not worried about Barrera at all. I just put Manny at his best and I think Manny’s best will do the job.”
Roach says many people underestimate just how dedicated Pacquiao is in preparing for a fight.
“Nothing’s more important to Manny. And once he starts training for a fight, there are no distractions whatsoever. It’s a 100 percent fight. He sleeps, he goes to bed at 9pm.
“We get up at 6am in the morning. We do our road work. We never miss a day. We don’t miss days in gym. He had great sparring for the fight. We had no distractions whatsoever.
“On Sunday, his day off, nice and casual; he takes it easy. Sometimes he gets up and runs on me because I want him to take a day off and sometimes he doesn’t want to. But like last Sunday he did run again.
“But the thing is, you know, Manny, when it comes to training mode, there’s never been a better fighter that trains harder than Pacquiao. And the thing is all these distractions go away even in the Philippines. There’s a lot of people pulling for him yes, I know, but, you know, once we start training camp, we don’t let that get in the way.
“He’s a very busy person, but again, I always wait for that day waiting for him to get distracted from his training and when he’s not going to be so disciplined. But that hasn’t happened yet and I don’t think it will happen until his career is over.”
Roach recently caused a mini-storm when he commented on the way Barrera’s hands are wrapped before fights, bringing an angry response from the Mexican himself.
Roach once again said he’ll be keeping a close on proceedings on Saturday, revealing: “I feel that he wraps in excessively. And when Manny fought him in Texas, we complained to the commission about that.
“The commission was in my favor and said that it was not a legal wrap. And so we just made him wrap legally. So, you know, Marco I’m taking care of my fighter and making sure that you don’t break any rules.”
As for a prediction Roach does expect a classic showdown with these two great warriors meet for the second time. But he believes the result will be the same.
“I think it’s going to be a great fight until it ends. Marco’s a very tough opponent and he’s very resilient. He’ll fight hard, but I think Manny will catch him in the late rounds and it’ll be great – it’ll be really hard fight until that happens.”
