An ancient Greek tale told of a great warrior, Achilles, who was said to be invulnerable to any weapon of his day. But unbeknownst to the general public, he can be killed if hit in the heel of his foot. An old crone, however, who knew his secret, told his enemy about this. Thereupon the fellow picked his best shot from among his archers and ordered him to shoot Achilles’ heel (I forgot which heel it was). Anyway, Achilles got killed, so goes the story.
Lesson? Know your enemy.
Freddie Roach’s importance to Manny Pacquiao is not so much on his training methods. We have certainly many trainers around just as capable as Roach, in terms of physical conditioning, weight control, proper diet, mental preparation, etc. But, there are very few that have his ability to spot the weakness of a prospective opponent, and how to exploit that weakness, including knowing the weapon with which to deal with it. He knows how to spot that Achilles heel. In addition, he knows how to relate with his ward such that he can easily communicate to him what he wants done.
