In Manny Pacquiao, we have a fighter who has not yet reached his peak. So says his trainer, classy Freddie Roach. In Marco Antonio Barrera, we have a fighter who is a tick or two past his prime but still possesses a combination of talent and courage that could give anyone fits on a given night.
It’s just the sort of mix that figures to provide fans a thrilling main event between the two super featherweights Saturday at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It will be a rematch of a November 2003 bout won by Pacquiao via 11th-round technical knockout. It’s the only time Barrera has been stopped in his illustrious career.
Last week, we got to spend some time with Roach and Pacquiao a day before the rest of the media did. It was a fairly busy Wild Card gym in Hollywood, what with regulars as well as Pacquiao friends and camp members on hand. But it was all business. Pacquiao was absolutely tremendous in everything he did. He looked mean and ready.
As Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) hit the speed bag, we sat down with Roach on the ring apron. Many subjects were broached, but it was interesting to hear Roach talk about how the best is yet to come for Pacquiao, and how he has gone about trying to help Pacquiao, 28, be the best he can be. That includes making him a better boxer by shoring up his defense and honing his technical skills.
“The one thing I’ll never take away from him is his natural ability, and that’s his willingness to exchange and to fight, be aggressive,” Roach said. “I mean, that’s what he is. That’s who he is. I can’t take that away from him. The thing is, I will never change him. I try to improve his skills, of course. Some tell me he just has a good left hand, and I go and work on the right hand. The right hand’s coming along really good and then someone told me his defense is really terrible. But when you go for it, you put yourself out there. And you expose yourself.
Pacquiao poses with fans in Manila in April. (Getty Images) “But we try to throw in a little more defense, a little more head movement. And you know, I don’t think he’s at his best yet. I think he’s still capable of doing more and he’s very open to that. He likes to be taught more. The thing is, we’re trying to make him a better all-around fighter. But I’m not going to take away from his aggressiveness. That’s what he is, and that’s what makes him exciting.”
Well, we are happy to hear that because Roach is right. The thing people like most about Pacquiao is that he goes toe to toe with everybody. He doesn’t pick and choose his opponents to do that. We never have to worry about Pacquiao running from anybody. He’s as ferocious as they come today.
And Roach is right that Pacquiao seems to have the frame of mind that he wants to get better. Here he is, either the No. 1 or No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world in most respected polls — he’s No. 1 in mine — but he’d never tell you that.
“I look at myself like, I’m just an ordinary fighter, but I can fight a good fighter,” Pacquiao said with a straight face as he sat in his dressing room after his intense workout. “That’s how I look at myself right now.”
In other words, unlike Floyd Mayweather Jr. — who is probably No. 1 in more polls than Pacquiao — Pacquiao doesn’t boast about being the best. And that could be because he actually believes he still has improving to do before he reaches that plateau. You have to love that attitude.
Then there’s Barrera. He’s 14-2 in his past 16 fights, but the first of those two losses was against Pacquiao. The second was in his last fight in March against fellow Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Barrera not only is looking to avenge his loss to Pacquiao, he’s trying to avoid back-to-back losses in the twilight of his career. He has gone on record as saying that this will be his last fight, but it’s hard to believe he would pass up a chance at a rubber match should he beat Pacquiao on Saturday. Either way, he is one motivated future Hall of Famer.
The thing is, will that motivation be enough to overcome his own deteriorating skills as well as the ring monster that’s going to be Pacquiao? During a recent conference call, Barrera answered all the questions. At one point, he became very animated when talking about why this fight is so important. The passion he displayed made me wonder if he just might be able to come up with what could be perceived as the biggest of victory his career.
“More than anything, it’s the motivation that gets me up for these fights,” he said through translator Eric Gomez, who is the matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Barrera. “The motivation of these nay-sayers, the people who keep putting me down. They say that I’m out. I like to shut their mouths.
