LOS ANGELES ? Here?s a short but strong message from Freddie Roach to the Mexican camp: “You better be ready.”
The two-time Trainer of the Year said Saturday in his Wild Card Gym he believes Manny Pacquiao is all set to rumble.
“We?ve done all the work. We?ve covered all the bases. We have the game plan,” he said after he directed another Pacquiao workout.
Roach said Pacquiao, just three pounds over the limit of 130 with still a week before the fight, is right on track, right on target.
Then he said there?s no way Pacquiao could lose this fight.
“I don?t see that (happening). I don?t think we can lose this fight,” said Roach, sounding so confident that Pacquiao will soon be crowned WBC lightweight champ.
Roach was asked if he had anything to say to Marquez.
“You better be ready. But I?m sure he is. He is a professional. But we are, too. It depends on what he likes and how he wants to fight us.
“If he gets active we?re ready for that. If he counter-punches we?re ready for that,” said Roach, adding that their battle plan is quite simple.
“Plans C or D” he said are not really needed. “It?s just more of A and B.”
Pacquiao has done everything he could in training, and is in the process of cooling down. After a morning run Sunday, he hears mass and rests the whole day.
Monday will be Pacquiao?s last day of sparring (only four rounds) but first he has to attend a press conference in downtown Los Angeles with Juan Manuel Marquez.
Then in the afternoon, Pacquiao takes a four-hour drive to Vegas. There the workouts will get even lighter, and Thursday will be his last day on the road.
Marquez flew in from Mexico to LA Saturday afternoon and will work out just the same, in a local or private gym somewhere, before he flies to Vegas Monday.
Last Friday in Mexico he did just four rounds of sparring against Venezuelan Rafael Hernandez and Nicaraguan Eusebio Osejo. Then he went to the US Embassy for some paper work.
Like Pacquiao, he?s got all the bases covered.
