During a recent conference call, trainer Freddie Roach touched on a variety of subjects pertaining to his fighter Manny Pacquiao?s Nov. 23 meeting with Brandon Rios.
Pacquiao vs. Rios will be the last pay per view showcase of the year, taking place from the Venetian Resort in Macau, China.
Giving updates on how camp life in General Santos City, Philippines has been over the past month, Roach was extremely upbeat, noting that Pacquiao is ?90% ready? to go and that the eight-division champion?s final sparring session will take place on Saturday.
While Roach?s positive outlook towards the forthcoming match was a refreshing sign, it happened to be his comments regarding Pacquiao?s last fight, a December knockout loss at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez, that caught my eye.
On that fateful night in Las Vegas, Pacquiao offered up another gutsy performance before ultimately being dropped by a counter right hand from Marquez in the sixth round. The punch left Pacquiao unconscious and signaled his first knockout loss in over 12 years.
There are some fans and insiders questioning whether or not the Filipino star will be able to bounce back from such a tremendous setback, but Roach insists that the Marquez loss isn?t an issue at this point.
?He has definitely put the knockout behind him,? Roach insisted. ?Manny Pacquiao knows that the knockout is part of the sport. He realizes that if you aren?t able to handle the knockout you picked the wrong sport. He is totally recovered and is brave as ever in the ring.?
Prior to the stoppage, Pacquiao had fought an excellent bout, as he traded knockdowns with Marquez and appeared to have his Mexico City foe in serious trouble heading into the sixth.
Roach won?t go as far as to discredit Marquez?s effort, but you can tell how close he felt Pacquiao was to scoring a dramatic victory of his own.
?Well, Manny was fighting one of the best fights he has fought in a long time,? Roach explained. ?At the time he fell into the punch; those things happen. Whether it was a lucky punch, Marquez was throwing a lot of punches. The thing, in that fight, if Manny had waited one second more, Manny was going to win that fight by knockout.?
More than anything, Roach believes that Pacquiao?s temperament following his fifth professional defeat has helped him rebound.
?Nothing carried over,? said Roach. ?Manny has looked great in training. I know people are skeptical about him but knockouts are what they are. Manny Pacquiao is a realist. He understands it is part of the sport. He?s been knocked out twice before. So he accepts that and I don?t think it?s going to affect him at all. But we probably won?t know until the fight.?
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