LAS VEGAS ? There is an intensity about Manny Pacquiao that makes you think this one is very different. He has been in the ring 58 times. He has won 29 title fights and eight division world championships. He is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, a singer with a platinum record and a congressman in the Philippines.
So why, to paraphrase the ancient prophets, will this Saturday night be different from all others? The answer jumps out at Manny Paquiao in three words:
Juan Manuel Marquez.
The trainer sees it and, like all good trainers, Freddie Roach immediately saw it. But the sparring partners felt it. He brought the young sparring partners to camp first, but they didn’t last a month. Then he brought in the veterans, David Rosela and Ray Beltran. It was the last week of boxing and Pacquiao, as is his habit, was inclined to coast.
Rosela and Manny are friends. Manny gave him the down payment for his home in Los Angeles as a wedding gift. The first day Beltran boxed three rounds, and when Rosela laced on his head guard, the other fighter said, “He’s taking it easy today. No big deal.” Roach simply said, “Wake him up.”
Rosela told Freddie if he coasts, I’ll get to him.
He went out and clocked Manny, who looked at, or perhaps through, him and hit him with a thunderous hook to the body.
“I mean,” Roach said, “I thought Manny broke him in half. I guess you could say he would like to beat this fella on Saturday night.”
