Days before another title defense for Manny Pacquiao, his trainer Freddie Roach is doing some last minute fight preparation. Pacquiao is still working hard and minimizing his rounds of sparring, before facing Shane Mosley Saturday evening at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas that will be televised on Showtime Pay-Per-View.
?We know we are in for a tough fight,? said Roach the Hall of Fame Trainer. ?From day one, Manny told me this would not be an easy fight.? Roach knows how difficult the challenge will be for his eight-division champion. Though, from the first day, when they met at the Wild Card Gym, to the first fight, every opponent has been a challenge for Roach.
Because Manny Pacquiao has such a good work ethic, and Roach has that perfect approach as a trainer, the two were made for each other. As the boxing world has come to realize, it was a match made in heaven. And it will be no different Saturday evening. Roach will follow the fight plan and Pacquiao will do the work and listen.
When this marriage of trainer and fighter concludes, they will go down in boxing history as one of the best all-time fighter-trainer combinations. As good as Muhammad Ali and Angelo Dundee, Joe Frazier and Eddie Futch, Emile Griffith and Gil Clancy, Thomas Hearns and Emanuel Steward and in boxing that is not an easy task.
The promoter of Pacquiao, Bob Arum, of Top Rank has been quoted, saying ?It?s magic. They are in tune with each other.? Roach smiles when his fighter takes the podium and answers the challenging questions, and Pacquiao does the same when Roach has the floor.
Roach has been utilizing an approach of what he calls, ?boxing-specific strength training.? It is a technique that slowly builds the punching power and weight of Pacquiao. It was a strategy used to get Pacquiao where he is today. More weight gain and strength and enough to get in with the welterweights. A strategy Roach believed would work, since that first day when Pacquiao walked in the gym as a slim kid from the Philippines in 2001.
It is the same strategy that been a part of the training regime when Pacquiao signed to fight Mosley. It has become an inspiring story, one that has also caught attention of a trainer in the opposite corner. ?After he?s fought bigger guys his fights have gotten easier,? says Nazim Richardson the trainer of Mosley, regarding how Roach has prepared Pacquiao to be at his level.
?Because the high energy guys are at the lower weight classes, so when he?s fought bigger guys he?s actually had an easier time,? added Richardson who has Mosley prepared for some flaws that he believes Pacquiao may have. However, Roach and Pacquiao through this run, have always been able to make the necessary adjustments before and in the duration of a fight.
But there is more than the physical preparation that makes this combination so special. Roach has become one of ?the most wanted? trainers in the business. He manages to adjust the timing between Pacquiao, and his other premier fighters that include super lightweight champion Amir Khan.
There is trust and a common bond. ?I?m a nice guy,? says Pacquio with a laugh. He does not pay attention to some rumors that Roach can be devoting less attention to him. Roach, in fact, makes a habit of making sure Pacquiao is sticking to his routine in between fights. And it is done carefully as Pacquiao is more occupied outside the ring as a political leader representing the Philippines as Congressman Manny Pacquiao.
Roach has established himself as a five-time trainer of the year by the Boxing Writers Association of America named in honor of his mentor Eddie Futch. Pacquiao was scheduled to be there again in Las Vegas Friday evening when Roach gets his fifth.
When Roach got his fourth award in 2009, Pacquiao smiled again. Roach would speak slowly and look at Pacquiao. ?Manny you?re the greatest thing that happened in my life,? he said. Then, we recall, it may have been the first time Pacquiao was seen sheading some tears.
A marriage made for the boxing world that will continue again tomorrow night in Las Vegas.
