Regardless of who Manny’s next opponent will be, the first half of his camp according to Freddie Roach will be in Manila. I spoke with Freddie yesterday morning, ” We have a date, I have Chavez fighting in Mexico on Sept, 11th, and on the 12th I will fly to the Philippines to start training Manny for a month. We will do it in Manila so that Congressman Pacquiao can stay close to his work, then we will do the second month from the Wild Card.”
As of right now it appears as if Pacquiao’s next opponent will be Antonio Margarito, but this is not a done deal as of yet. Roach informed this writer that there have been no contracts signed as of yet, “They are still negotiating things. I mean there is still the Margarito license issue, there has been no venue selected yet, there are still things to work out.’
Margarito is coming off a suspension after being caught attempting to put an illegal substance on his hands prior to his match against Shane Mosley. When I asked Roach what his thoughts were on whether or not Margarito deserves this chance he replied, “The thing is, were his hands loaded or not? We can all assume that they were, but we can’t prove it against Cotto. There is a lot of speculation, but he did get caught trying to do it against Shane, but it didn’t actually happen, they caught it before it happened. This fight with Margarito is a good guy Vs. Bad guy. Manny will beat up another Mexican, I have no problem with the fight. Margarito is a tough guy, but his ring generalship is really poor. We will knock him out.”
It will be interesting to see how much distraction will take place in Manny’s camp in Manila. Congressman Pacquiao will be in Manila training for a fight, and he will no doubt be followed by media cameras, and a lot more people in general. Roach talked about the security issues, “I don’t see much changing. He’s the most famous person in the Philippines both before and after he was elected. We ill be in Manila so that he can be close to work after he changes, but I don’t see much changing whatsoever.”
Read up Lorne Scoggins latest on Mayweather negotiations breaking down here – http://www.examiner.com/x-42747-Fort-Smith-Boxing-Examiner~y2010m7d17-Pacquiao-vs-Mayweather-Why-it-didnt-happen-this-time
I spoke with the Chief of Officials for the state of Mississippi, Stan Nichols about Pacquiao training camps and the distractions that come with them, “Manny has already proved that even if he does have distractions, he works right through them. I think by now Manny is used to whatever comes his way during his training camps. I do not see any problem with him training in Manila, he will be fine.”
If it’s Margarito for Pacquiao, Roach predicts a knockout, ” Margarito is a tough guy, he is tall, but his ring generalship is poor. We will knock him out.”
The date for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight is November 13th, 2010
