The bad blood between Mexican ring terror Erik Morales and his dad — the man who guided him to three major world titles — may have gotten a lot of media mileage lately, but for veteran boxing trainer Freddie Roach, it is a scenario that has happened over and over in the sport .
“It (father-son unions in boxing) just never seems to work out at the end,” Roach, Manny Pacquiao’s internationally-renowned trainer, was quoted by MaxBoxing.com recently.
“But they (the Moraleses) seemed to have a pretty good relationship though, and they had some good fights. But I don’t think he really listened to his dad that much.”
Turmoil
Whatever the case, the internal turmoil in the Morales camp could very well be a pivotal factor in the highly-awaited rematch between Pacquiao and Morales, which will take place in less than two weeks on Jan.22 in Las Vegas, Nevada’s Thomas and Mack Center.
Roach cited one telling episode that happened during the break leading to the final round of the first Pacquiao- Morales slugfest in March last year. “Like his dad told him (Erik) in the last round in the first (Pacquiao-Morales) fight, ‘Don’t make any stupid mistakes’ and he went out and fought southpaw, just to prove his father wrong, I believe.”
Orthodox
Morales, who built a huge lead using the orthodox stance after 11 rounds, ended up eating a lot of leather in the 12th round, losing that round to Pacquiao, although he went on to win the fight via unanimous decision.
“You’ll always get that in a father-son relationship; there’s always a fine line there.” said Roach, who certainly knows a thing or two about father-son tandems. In the early part of his boxing career, Roach was also handled by his father, Paul.
“My dad knew he took me as far as he could,” recalled Roach.
