FREDDIE Roach (left) faces reporters during a rountable interview. ROY LUARCA
MACAU—“He’s a journeyman at best. Certainly, he’s no (Juan Manuel) Marquez.”
This was how Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach described Brandon Rios during the round table discussion here Friday afternoon.
Roach was reacting to an insinuation by Rios’ trainer, Robert Garcia, that his ward is capable of stopping Pacquiao in the same manner Marquez did in December last year.
“Brandon got the power to do it in the last round or early in the fight,” Garcia said during the roundtable. “If he catches Manny with a good punch the way Marquez did, it could be over.”
“I’m not saying that that’s gonna happen or it will be easier to do that—but it could. It could happen. A one-punch knockout, I think Brandon has the chance. Anything can happen in this fight.”
According to Roach, a five-time Trainer of the Year and boxing Hall of Fame inductee, Rios’ skill level is nowhere near that of Marquez. He also brushed aside Garcia’s claim that Rios packs a one-punch wallop.
“He (Rios) is no puncher, what he does is an accumulation of punches,” said Roach, who has studied video tapes of Rios’ past 10 fights.
Roach said he can’t see Rios stealing a win, much more knocking out Pacquiao when they tangle Sunday afternoon in this gambling haven.
Garcia, though, is confident of his ward’s chances. While admitting that Pacquiao may be too fast for Rios in the early going of the welterweight showdown, Garcia doubts whether the Fighter of the Decade can sustain the pace for 12 rounds.
“He could beat Brandon with his speed. But does he have the speed, the legs, the power for 12 rounds? It’s a 12-round fight. It’s not a four-round fight,” Garcia said during the round table discussion at the media center for “The Clash in Cotai” at the Venetian Macao this Sunday.
“Manny may be too fast in the first few rounds, but eventually he’ll slow down. Brandon, on the other hand, will get stronger and stronger.”
NOTES: Filipino-Mexican Jessica Sanchez arrived at the press center Friday afternoon. The 2012 American Idol, who resides in the United States, will sing the national anthems of both the United States and the Philippines for The Clash in Cotai. The 18-year-old Sanchez, whose mother hails from Samal, Bataan, also rendered the national anthem in Pacquiao’s fight against Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas last year.