Floyd Mayweather Jr. says they’ve got only one plan: Go out there and do their best.
What the Mayweathers do best is, of course, be smart, main reason behind Floyd Jr.’s unblemished record (47-0) at age 38.
This is being restated here in a bid to bring focus on Freddie Roach’s latest pronouncement.
The celebrated multi-awarded mentor of Filipino boxing superhero Manny Pacquiao was quoted yesterday as swearing they’ll now go out there to win every round against Mayweather on May 2.
* * *
Surprising as the new Roach plan sounds, it doesn’t look very smart.
It’s a complete turnaround from the original plot to overthrow Mayweather by knockout, or via a screaming two-fisted power grab.
Maybe all Roach wants to show is that he could change horses at midstream and avail of an extra option at beating the supremely gifted Mayweather.
Or demonstrate Pacquiao is also possessed of craft and competence to win systematically.
It could also mean that Roach, not exactly a genius at making on-fight adjustments, has started showing a hidden prowess to re-plot well ahead of a big fight.
* * *
Roach said they will take control, make the right move before they attack, adding that if a knockout comes, it would be just a bonus.
Question: Why is Pacquiao, a tested rock-rock boxing star, now being prepared to do controlled waltz?
Only Roach has the answer, but it’s also easy to suspect the great trainer has started to sense that blasting out Mayweather through unrestrained fury has its own risks.
Pacquiao, engaged in a screaming firefight, would predictably be a waiting target for his precision-firing foe.
* * *
It’s like this: While Pacquiao had originally been instructed to rain punches—the greater number the better, in every round—there’s now the call to engage in slower, calculated combat.
Not to warn that Pacquiao could in the process fall into a trap, but Mayweather happens to be at his silken best when executing his smooth waltzy craft.
Does Mr. Roach want a longer fight, or does he have a better fool-proof final plot which he hopes to spring only on fight night?
* * *
(NEW N-P-A: President Aquino has warned “those opposing reforms.” But from Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, where the poet-novelist Erwin Castillo won his first comeback shooting tournament last week following a lengthy recuperation from successful kidney surgery, comes this text message: “It’s being whispered about here that, according to the BOI, the SAF 44 were massacred by the NPA: Napeñas-Purisma-Aquino… From the busy Mandaluyong City wet market: After Wang-Wang, now comes Bwang-Bwang!, nakaka-tawa, di nakakatakot.)