MANILA, Philippines ? As Manny Pacquiao?s megabuck fight with England?s Ricky Hatton draws near, a stricter close-door policy is now being implemented at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, where the pound-for-pound king is in the thick of training.
The rule is so stringent that not even members of Team Pacquiao were spared, according to a report by philboxing.com?s Dr. Ed de la Vega.
?Apparently, Roach with the support of Michael Moorer, his new assistant, decided to keep everyone away from the gym because Pacquiao has a tendency to ‘goof’ around and show off to his friends when he is on top of the ring. They feel that Manny is not focusing enough and they wanted that to change that so he can concentrate better,? de la Vega wrote.
Although everyone seemed to agree to the rule, one Team Pacquiao member bared that the new close-door policy is a bit too far.
?Para bang martial law (It?s like martial law),? de la Vega quoted the team member as saying.
De la Vega added that when the gym?s security officer tells everyone to leave ? signaling the start of Pacquiao?s training ? it applies to everyone.
In fact, even the Pacman?s brother, fellow boxer Bobby Pacquiao, was asked to step out at one instance, de la Vega noted.
Another team member said things were better before Moorer came onboard.
?We were doing so well with the same people. And we won the fights. If Roach wanted to have someone else run his gym, he could have done it after the Hatton fight. Then these bad feelings will not be here,? the team member said.
Moorer, a former heavyweight champion, was tapped by Roach to assist him in training Pacquiao.
Pacquiao was reportedly aware of how some members of his entourage feel about the strict rule, and is also apparently unhappy with it.
The Filipino star was quoted as saying he will address the problem after the fight, adding he won?t let the issue be a distraction in his preparations for the May 3 face-off with Hatton.
