Manny Pacquiao said he will stick with Freddie Roach as trainer after the American was selected by boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya as his trainer in his May 5 encounter with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Roach was officially informed by De la Hoya Tuesday that he will be his trainer after negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Sr., Oscar’s trainer for many years, bogged down.
Informed yesterday that Roach had accepted De la Hoya’s offer, Pacquiao said he will not shop for a new trainer and will keep Roach. But because Roach will be away for the coming weeks and months, Pacquiao said that Australian Justin Fortune will take over during Roach’s absence.
The training of De la Hoya and Pacquiao is expected to overlap as the Filipino fighter also begins his training very soon for his fight with South Korean Injin Chi in late April in Macau.
“I won’t look for a new trainer,” said Pacquiao. He explained that he will find it difficult to hire one at this time who might try to use a different style than Roach which he said would make him uncomfortable.
“I have to adjust to the style of somebody other than Freddie Roach if I get a new trainer (which I wouldn’t want to do),” Pacquiao said.
Roach said he will instruct Fortune, a conditioning coach, and the man who takes charge of the Wild Card whenever Roach is away, to handle Pacquiao’s preparations. Fortune will be assisted by Filipino trainer Buboy Fernandez, a long tme Pacquiao confidant.
De La Hoya will train in Puerto Rico where he intends to bring Roach for the duration of the training which begins in the first week of March.
Roach said Pacquiao can train in Puerto Rico alongside De La Hoya. The Mexican star, according to Roach, agreed to accommodate the Filipino.
“If Manny wants to go to Puerto Rico, he’s more than welcome to come over,” said Roach, noting that De La Hoya will work out in the evening and he and Pacquiao could train during the afternoon.
De La Hoya is also supportive of Roach’s other priorities that Roach said Golden Boy is willing to provide a private jet for Roach so he could be in Pacquiao’s corner for the Macau bout.
“That’s a possibility,” said Roach, who will fill the void left by Floyd Jr.’s father, Floyd Sr. who outpriced himself from the job of training De La Hoya.
Mayweather Sr. had asked for a flat rate of $ 2 million from De La Hoya and his high talent fee and the fact that De La Hoya won’t be confortable being trained by the father of the man he’s fighting, paved the way for the entry of Roach, who has been Pacquiao’s strategist since mid-2001.
Roach said he will earn “close to what Mayweather wanted” but still considers Pacquiao as his main man.
“He is like a son to me,” said Roach, who even urged Top Rank chief Bob Arum to set aside their personal differences for the sake of Pacquiao.
