Remember Stretch Armstrong? He was that toy that you could stretch across the room and he would regain his shape when you let go. The key, of course, was that someone had to let go. You always had the one mean kid who felt that it was his duty to show that you could, in fact, tear off a piece of Stretch.
The point is that the one that truly cared for Stretch would be the one to let go first. He didn’t want any harm to come to his prized toy. I get this feeling that Freddie Roach may be having similar feelings today.
In a recent interview with David Tyler of Doghouse Boxing, Roach candidly expressed his desire to have Manny back in the gym. He noted that his opponent, Miguel Cotto, had reportedly been in training for nearly a month.
One of Roach’s main complaints was that rumors had circulated that Manny’s advisor, Michael Konz, had said that Freddie was just a trainer and that they didn’t need him. It seems that many of Manny’s large entourage may believe that Cotto will be an easy fight. In fact, Roach believes that this fight will go the distance. Cotto is no pushover and many believe that on fight night Miguel may outweight Manny by as much as 15 pounds.
The great middleweight champion, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, once said of an opponent, “it is hard to get up and do roadwork when you wear silk pajamas”. I’d like to add a little amendment to that that would say, ” it is hard to take a fighter seriously when you surround yourself with yes men”.
Manny seems like a genuinely nice guy. Unfortunately, the boxing world is filled with people that are only out to profit off of nice guys like Pacquiao. One of Manny’s true friends needs to show Manny a tape of Mike Tyson before the Buster Douglas fight. Then show the Douglas fight.
People looking to profit off of Tyson convinced him that he was so good that he didn’t need to listen to his old trainer. Remember his old trainer was Kevin Rooney, a man who took no excuses from Mike and made him train. This was because Rooney had Tyson’s best interest at heart.
Hopefully Manny is not being pulled in so many directions on the advice of his advisors. As an advisor their job is to let Pacman know where his priorities should lie. Getting in touch and training with Freddie Roach is number one. Making movies and everything else should be number two.
The worst thing a person can do is try to please everyone. It is an impossible feat. And if Manny were to lose to Cotto by not training properly it may devastate him. He feels he carries the weight of the Philippines on his shoulders. Manny could probably deal with a loss. But if he knew it was because he took Cotto lightly he may never get over it.
So everyone needs to stop pulling Manny in so many different directions and put him in the very capable hands of Freddie Roach.
So Manny, take a fan’s advice. Say no to some of your yes men. Get in the gym and don’t let your so called advisors try to convince you that you’re indestructable. If you do, you may find out that your worst opponent in that ring in November is actually you.
