Media, public off limits when Pacquiao trains at Wild Card Gym
Manny Pacquiao trains with coach Freddie Roach on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, in Los Angeles. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Timothy Bradley on April 12 in a WBO welterweight title bout. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
MANILA, Philippines — The doors of the Wild Card Boxing Club will be closed to the public and even the media the moment owner and Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach starts working with his most prized student.
Roach said he already has a strategy in mind to solve the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr., but he plans to keep Manny Pacquiao’s training at the famous gym in downtown Los Angeles as private as possible.
“I won’t tell you what the game plan is because that will be very silent,” Roach, who is in Macau to help Zhou Shiming prepare for a shot at the IBF world flyweight title on Saturday, told South China Morning Post. “The whole Wildcard Gym will be shut down and we will work out Manny’s best strategy and nobody will watch it.”
“The cameras are only allowed after sparring and after mitts because the game plan is very important in this fight. I have had a plan for five years for this guy,” said the seven-time Trainer of the Year, who turns 55 on Thursday.
Pacquiao and Mayweather are set to face off in a press conference on March 11 in Los Angeles— an event that marks the only time the two welterweight champions are going to meet before fight week.
Organizers have decided to do away with the usual cross-country media tour since a fight of this magnitude needs no further hyping up.
The May 2 showdown, which is five years in the making, is expected to break all existing records and go down as the richest bout in boxing history.
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