LOS ANGELES — He described it as the best win of his life.
Almost three days after guiding Manny Pacquiao to victory over Erik Morales, American trainer Freddie Roach is still in cloud nine.
Roach, as usual, was busy running the Wild Card Gym, which he owns, Tuesday when he talked about Pacquiao’s sensational 10th round knockout of Morales.
“It’s the best win of my life, of all my fights. Everything we planned on doing came into play and worked. He listened to me and we had a great strategy,” he said.
The former trainer of Mike Tyson said their game plan to attack Morales in the body before going for the kill was followed to the letter.
“That was the plan–go to the body and break this guy down. It was a great night. To beat Morales like that, nobody expected that,” said Roach.
The former boxer who fought in the featherweight division said he just couldn’t get over the sight of Morales, a former three-time champion, getting knocked out.
After taking a terrible beating in the previous rounds, Morales first hit the canvas with less than a minute left in the 10th round.
Morales got up then went down again at the 2:33 mark of the 10th. There was no way he could have continued as referee Kenny Bayless signaled the end of the bout.
“When Morales went down, I just felt so high. It’s a great feeling. And I’m still happy right now,” said Roach, who gave all the credit to Pacquiao.
“It’s Manny who does the work. He just listens to me. I can only guide him through. When the bell rings, he’s the one who fights.
“That’s the guy right there,” he said, pointing to an area in the gym where Pacquiao was busy signing autographs.
Pacquiao visited the Wild Card Gym the day after returning from Las Vegas, and received a warm welcome at the gym where he trained for six weeks for the Morales fight.
Everybody wanted a piece of Pacquiao during his visit as fans had pictures taken with their idol, and had him sign autographs on their gloves, shirts, caps, posters and magazines.
“Mahimbing ang tulog ko mamaya,” said a Filipino fan, after getting Pacquiao sign his jacket.
