Boxing is a lonely business but never more so than it is at the moment for Manny Pacquiao.
In the long weeks leading up to his classic confrontation in March with Erik Morales, Pacquiao was seldom left alone, either in the gym or in his thoughts. Every day the Wild Card Gym in downtown Los Angeles was jammed with his loyal following of Filipino fans. His every move was cheered and, his trainer now believes, his every move was also orchestrated more to please those crowds than to prepare himself for Morales.
When the crowds were gone, the din did not lessen. There were meetings with lawyers, managers and sycophants, all talking about how to defeat a new opponent, his soon to be former promoter Murad Muhammad.
When they all finally left him, Pacquiao sat alone but his thoughts seldom focused solely on Morales, who is one of the best 130-pound fighters in the world. Rather they kept coming back to what had become a seemingly endless war with Muhammad and his original handlers back in Manila, whom Pacquiao and roach believe shortchanged the fighter out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in purse money.
As the days wore own, Pacquiao wore down. His focus on Morales seemed to slip away until he appeared to be only a shadow of himself when Fight Night finally came. He fought bravely, as always, but he did not fight well and he was punished for it. Pacquiao’s tactics seemed nonexistent and his stubborn insistence on finding a way to knockout the resilient and resourceful Morales with one punch led him to a painful defeat.
It has been five months now since that disappointing night and Pacquiao is back at the Wild Card Gym preparing for a tuneup against a Mexican professional named Hector Velazquez (41-10) on a Sept. 10 HBO card at the Staples Center. Pacquiao will share the spotlight with Morales, who faces Zahir Raheem (26-1, 18 KO) on the same card, both men knowing what those fights mean.
They mean a rematch for big money if both win as expected and abject defeat if they do not.
Pacquiao and Roach understand this but more importantly they understand what happened in the weeks before the Morales fight cannot be repeated. The legal problems with Muhammad have been settled and Pacquiao has signed a two-fight deal with rival promoter Gary Shaw, who he said this week “is funny.”
Perhaps just as important as the absence of legal problems is the presence of silence. The crowds of eager fans have been locked out of his gym in L.A. and Pacquiao now prepares to fight the way Roach likes him to. Alone.
“There were too many distractions before,” Roach said this week of the months leading up to their loss to Morales. “This time things are more private. We close the gym to the public when Manny trains. There’s room to breathe now.
“We love the Filipino fans but you couldn’t breathe in the gym before Morales. Those fans have been great to us but Manny was performing for them and not so much for me last camp. Now he can concentrate on the fight and practice what we need to practice on.”
The first couple of days of training word had not quite filtered out yet about the closure and fans began to congregate around the old building. Roach finally employed several burly bodyguards to make the point but he also appealed to Pacquiao’s fans to show if their love for him was real.
“They understood if they’re really Manny’s supporters they’d help him out and let him work,” Roach said. “The fans respected that. They stopped coming.”
Pacquiao seldom does, which is part of his problem. His blind insistence on aggression and forward motion cost him dearly against the slick but warrior-like Morales and Roach is not in denial about that. He has his fighter working on increasing his body punching now, believing that is what’s necessary to wear down Morales while also convinced that if he can take that approach in against the less dangerous Velasquez it will carry over to what is expected to be a pay-per-view rematch early next year between two of the most popular and two of the most dangerous fighters in the world.
“Velasquez has a similar style to Erik’s,” Roach said. “He’s not of that caliber but he’s very resilient. He’s gone a lot of rounds with people so Manny needs to wear him down. It’s the same with Morales. I felt Manny didn’t work the body enough against Morales last time. My hope is if he does it this fight it will carry over.”
Of course to get to that fight Pacquiao first must rid himself of Velasquez (41-10, 30 KO). That is not as difficult a task as Roach might want you to think but then again it may not be as easy as some might assume either. That is why they are training in silence. It is a quiet reminder to his fighter not only what is at stake but also what cost him so dearly in March. It is a lesson, it seems, that Manny Pacquiao has learned well if perhaps a bit late.
“This time my training is focused 100 per cent,” Pacquiao said from Los Angeles. “No distractions. no worries. I am focused only on Sept. 10. Last time I had a lot of problems. I couldn’t concentrate.”
Last time, it seems, Pacquiao had so many problems outside the ring he forgot his biggest worry was Morales, who many consider the best super featherweight in the world despite the fact Marco Antonio Barrera would loudly dispute that.
Such mental slippage might seem odd considering Morales’ reputation and proficiency but such were the promotional, managerial and, most of all, financial problems Pacquiao was coping with then that by the time he got to Morales all he wanted to do was punch his head off his shoulders, making him pay for the sins of people he had trusted with his future.
In a sense that has always been Pacquiao’s approach for he is an action fighter of the highest order but in retrospect he knows his wavering mind conspired against him, leaving him unable to adjust as the fight wore on. Roach recognizes that but he also recognizes that he must work within his fighter’s nature. He has a puncher in the Wild Card Gym and he will have the same on Fight Night at the Staples Center and so he adjusts his teaching methods and his fistic curriculum to his student’s abilities and inclinations.
“Manny’s nature is to be aggressive,” Roach conceded. “He’s a puncher. You can’t take that away. But Manny’s a much better fighter than he showed that night against Morales. Maybe I didn’t do my job correctly (then) but with the bad people out of the way it makes a big, big difference.
“Manny showed a lot of guts in that fight but he stood right in front of the guy with not much head movement. He knows better than that.”
What he also knows, and what Roach is reinforcing in case he forgot, is that he has to use his jab more instead of concentrating solely on his powerful left hand. Against Morales he was beaten back and held at bay all night by the jab yet Roach believes his fighter has the superior one when he throws it. And so, in silence, Pacquiao throws it day after day with only Freddie Roach to please.
Throws the right jab and barrages to the body. No need for the pupil to please anyone but the teacher now because the classroom is empty. No one there but Roach and the memory of Erik Morales.
“We’re not going to stumble and take Velasquez lightly,” Roach said with assurance. “Believe me. Many could make 126 easily but he wants to fight Morales so that’s why we’re still at 130. That fight is the kind that can take something out of you. I think having this fight before a rematch is important. But if we don’t win this fight there is no rematch. Manny understands that.”
No one has to tell Manny Pacquiao that, which is a good thing, because no one’s around these days to do it. Which is the way Freddie Roach likes it.
