There was a time when Freddie Roach and Naazim Richardson were in the same corner. Back a few years ago, they worked together in training Bernard Hopkins. This Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they will be on opposite sides of the ring when WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao takes on Shane Mosley (Showtime PPV, 9 PM ET/6 PM PT).
Coming in, Roach believed his job was to keep Pacquiao motivated and focused on a fight that many believe is a mere formality but to his surprise, he hasn?t had to. What he?s gotten since day one is a fighter who has been preparing with gusto since the very first day in the Philippines.
“100 percent, yes,” said Roach, last week after a workout that saw Pacquiao go ten rounds on the mitts with Roach. “He?s fighting a guy who beat Oscar [De La Hoya], he knows that. He?s respected Shane Mosley since day one. From day one, we started training, he was just on fire. He was motivated; he was hungry to get back in the gym. He missed his real job- instead of Congress- and it showed.”
Roach added, “The thing is, we did five weeks in Baguio last time and three weeks in LA [for the Antonio Margarito fight]. We got ready for the fight in three weeks, to be honest with you. This time, whatever we did in Baguio for the first three weeks- this time, we flopped it. Three weeks in Baguio and five weeks here. I said, ?Whatever happens in Baguio will just be a bonus for us. I?ll get him in shape in five weeks in L.A.,? so I really didn?t expect much. I thought he?d be like with the senator calling him, the president, distractions, stuff like that. Never happened. Never happened from day one. He was just on fire.”
What was striking about the work they did on this day at the renowned Wild Card Boxing Club was not only the frenetic energy displayed by the Filipino icon, who can seemingly throw fast, striking combinations while floating on air, is that even as the bell rings sounding the end of the round, he never takes a break. He has to be implored by his trainer to even get a sip of water. And as the tenth round comes to a close, Roach has to order him to stop.
“He is the ?Energizer Bunny? for sure,” said Roach. “His tolerance for pain is just beyond everyone I know. The thing is, he just works and punches and punches but every exercise he does, one after the other, he does it 100 percent. He doesn?t relax on the ropes or on the speed bag or relax on the heavy bag. He tries to kill the heavy bag; he tries to pop the speed bag. He jumps rope as fast as he can. I mean, his work ethic is better than anyone I?ve ever seen in my life.”
There was a concern that his foray into the political arena would dull his concentration or passion for the sport but that hasn?t been the case. Roach had his doubts. “I thought so,” he admitted. “I mean, the acting and singing is all fun stuff but being a politician, that?s serious business and he takes it very serious. So I thought that was going to pull him away. It was like a new girlfriend. It was new; it was interesting and stuff like this. For this fight, I tell you what, politics hasn?t come up once.”
While Roach?s goal was to keep Pacquiao at the same level he?s been fighting at, Richardson?s job is get Mosley back to what he once was – or at least the version that dismantled Antonio Margarito back in January of 2009. ?Brother Naazim? is convinced there will be a superior version of ?Sugar? who will show up compared to the one that struggled in his last two outings versus Floyd Mayweather and Sergio Mora.
“Yes, I think so,” said Richardson, a few weeks back at a media day held in Big Bear, “Shane?s motivated by these kinds of things and those fights are motivation for him. We realize [Floyd] Mayweather, pound-for-pound, is the most talented athlete in boxing right now. Pacquiao is, pound-for-pound, the best fighter in boxing right now. And as I told people before, the same scenario was some years ago when Roy Jones was the most talented boxer in boxing but [Felix] Trinidad was the best fighter, pound-for-pound, in boxing. That warrior spirit makes a difference.”
To Richardson, there is more than just a stylistic difference between Pacquiao and Mayweather.
“Well, the warrior spirit,” he reiterated. “Pacquiao is not a clich? fighter. Pacquiao has different variations of himself, where as though Pacquiao can box you and things aren?t going his way, Pacquiao can bite down on his mouthpiece and start fighting.”
All that might be true but while it?s understandable that anyone might be riddled by the conundrum that is Mayweather, it was rather alarming to see Mosley struggle so much as to put together a quick-fire combination with accuracy against Mora. The Mayweather fight showed technical flaws; the Mora fight seemed to portend physical slippage. However, Mosley?s trainer said, “I take responsibility for the Sergio Mora fight, in the sense I told Shane the entire camp, ?Sergio Mora stops and goes to war with every single fighter he?s ever faced- including Vernon Forrest.? Sergio stops and starts punching. He never did that with Shane and I?ve known Sergio since the amateurs. I?ve never seen Sergio move the entire fight, run the entire fight. He never wanted to engage with Shane at all.”
That shouldn?t be a problem with Pacquiao, who brings in an all-action style. If Mayweather and Mora are chess players, Pacquiao is more akin to a fast-paced game of checkers.
“If you watch Manny Pacquiao close enough, Manny Pacquiao?s been hit with everything. Manny Pacquiao?s been hit with different shots. The thing about Manny Pacquiao that makes him special is even when you?re having success against him, he will bite down on his mouthpiece and turn it into a different kind of fight,” said Richardson. “So even when you?re landing uppercuts, even when you?re turning him, even when you?re hitting him with good shots, even when you put him on his pocket, it wouldn?t surprise me to see him get off the canvas three, four times and start fighting Shane Mosley.”
At his advanced age of 39, Mosley is no longer the consistent ?power-boxing? whirlwind he was before. He now only occasionally flashes his speed and he is now much more measured in his expenditure of energy. Roach, however, believes that in the early rounds, there is a window where he is still lively. “He is a very dangerous fighter; he can punch. He has one-punch knockout power; he?s the fastest guy we ever fought. You look at his last fight against Margarito, he looked great in that fight. People thought he was sensational in that fight. Then his next two fights, he fights runners. Bad styles, I mean, it?s just matchmaking errors. It was bad matchmaking for Shane?s style.
“Shane?s never done well with boxers. Shane has always done well with guys who come at you,” Roach continued. “Manny Pacquiao is one of those guys who will come after you at times but we have to go after Shane very scientifically with a little strategy.”
Mosley may not have the legs he once did. Old legs, though, while they struggle to handle lateral movement or get into a reverse gear, can still function effectively if they are allowed to work in a linear fashion.
“It?s the cardinal sin with Shane,” said Roach, who believes that his charge must work angles against Mosley. “If you walk straight into him, he?ll hit you with a counter-hook and an overhand right and he has one-punch knockout power. Let?s face it; he?s a dangerous, dangerous guy and we?re not going to get caught sleeping.”
A faster pace would seem to favor Pacquiao, given his youth and style, but Richardson says, “I want to control the pace for what we need to do, which is conducive to my athlete. If we?re in the position to fight fast at that time, that?s what we want to do. If we?re in the position to slow it down, then that?s what we?ll have to do. We?ll have to make those adjustments and not let Manny dictate what happens in this fight.”
When asked how he sees this fight playing out, a somewhat irritated Richardson answered, “Listen, y?all can turn to the other camp because apparently they have a prophet over there who likes to predict.” We assume Richardson, who is a practicing Muslim, means Roach and not Elijah Muhammad. “I?m not a prophet. I?m a man; I?m going to watch the fight. My guys going to bring the best program he can to produce the best results he can within 12 rounds.”
Pacquiao, in many respects, is in a no-win situation. If he comes out victorious, well, he was supposed to. The only way Pacquiao might make any type of statement is to become the first man to stop Mosley. Roach believes that there is some sort of pressure to score the KO.
“See, for me, yeah, because I?m that type of guy- every fight should end in a knockout,” he said. “For Manny, y? know what, he sees boxing as a sport and doesn?t want to hurt anybody and he gets compassionate like he did in his last fight. He?ll pull up on Shane and not try to hurt him and win a decision. That?s Manny Pacquiao. I try to explain it to him, ?Manny, one punch can change everything. Don?t let him get lucky. Don?t let someone last longer than they should,? but I think it?ll be a feather in his cap to be the first one to stop Shane and just prove to everyone in the world how much better he is than the other guy.”
As for what we?ll see on Saturday night, Roach states, “Action-packed, both guys going for it. Manny catching him with a hook and knocking him out.”
EPIX
I?m told by a source that Epix, which dipped its toe into the boxing waters in March when they televised the WBC heavyweight title fight between Vitali Klitschko and Odlanier Solis, is thinking seriously about airing the WBA middleweight title tilt between Felix Sturm and Matthew Macklin from Germany on June 25th.
For Klitschko-Solis, which Epix offered a free trial subscription to their online platform (for those whose cable or satellite systems don?t carry this network), the network?s servers were inundated and unable to handle the oncoming traffic that came its way. Eventually, the fight could be seen later on as it was archived.
You can look at this in several ways. The bad news is that Epix was overloaded and incapable of handling the audience that came aboard. The good news is that there was actually an audience that wanted to come aboard that flooded the outlet.
Either way, I hope they don?t abandon ship after just one telecast.
HAYMON BOXING ORGANIZATION
The latest I?ve heard regarding the opponent for Paul Williams, who returns on July 9th, is Carlos Molina who just recently stopped Allen Conyers and before that, had a disputed draw with Erislandy Lara. It?s not a bad fight; Molina is a pretty solid guy but the question is this: Is Williams-Molina really worthy of a headline spot on HBO? Just my opinion but out of the names I?ve seen kicked around for this assignment, I like Deandre Latimore the best. He?s usually in entertaining affairs and he can punch a little bit- which might be the problem here.
As for Andre Berto, who was recently defeated by Victor Ortiz, I understand that IBF welterweight beltholder Jan Zaveck is the guy the former titlist?s team is targeting (with top-rated challenger Randall Bailey getting step-aside money). This is interesting, given that Zaveck was a guy that HBO basically rejected last year. So the question is, with Berto losing, is Zaveck suddenly kosher to the network? If he is, it?s clear that sometimes losing is indeed, better than winning on HBO.
LAS VEGAS FLURRIES
Super middleweight standout Carl ?The Cobra? Froch has signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Sport…For those who plan on attending the fights in Las Vegas this weekend, the weigh-in for Pacquiao-Mosley starts at 3 PM Pacific on Friday afternoon but make sure to get there MUCH earlier. If you want to grab a good seat and not get turned away at the door, you literally have to line up in the morning for weigh-ins involving the ?Pac-Man?…I thought ESPN?s ?Three for the Show,? which concluded on Tuesday night was one of their best productions ever, as they followed the trio of Cam Newton, Jake Locker and Tyrod Taylor all the way up through the NFL Draft…I can?t wait to see Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall transition into his next career as a political pundit…I?m telling you right now; after just three episodes, ?Game of Thrones? looks like it?s on its way to join the pantheon of other great HBO series like ?The Wire? and ?The Sopranos?…I know this will pain a lot of people but the Miami Heat just might be the hottest team in the NBA right now…I can be reached at [email protected] and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.
Exclusively available to Maxboxing members is an excellent bird?s-eye/point-of-view peek into Manny Pacquiao?s training and preparation for this Saturday night?s bout against Shane Mosley, courtesy of cameraman Brian Harty and Steve Kim. You can only catch it right here on MaxTV at http://www.maxboxing.com/maxtv/maxboxing-tv/manny-pacquiao-pov-training-and-interview.
