Freddie Roach is interviewed by members of the Philippine media inside the Wild Card gym in Hollywood, CA on Friday afternoon, 24 April 2015. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA
HOLLYWOOD — It hardly matters that Freddie Roach wasn’t in New York to personally receive his seventh Trainer of the Year award from the Boxing Writers Association of America.
“My brother is accepting it for me,” Roach said. “It’s obvious I can’t be there because we have more important things here.”
Besides, he’s getting an eighth anyway.
At least, that’s what Manny Pacquiao supposedly assured him during Friday’s workout at Wild Card gym here, where trainer and boxer continued polishing a game plan for the mammoth fight against undefeated pound-for-pound rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Manny assured me I’m winning an eighth next year because he’s knocking Mayweather out,” Roach said.
“I like it when he says things like that.”
The celebrated duo looked headed in that direction after Friday’s session, which was interrupted by a hiccup when Pacquiao came in late due to a traffic snarl on Sunset Boulevard caused by a parade to mark the centennial of the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks.
The parade kept Pacquiao from returning home after his early morning jog and delayed his rest. The eight-division champ woke up later than usual and arrived at Wild Card at around 4 p.m. here.
But other than that, everything was perfect.
Pacquiao breezed through the training session and again displayed tremendous form, allowing Roach to focus on strategy.
“His power is unbelievable. His speed is unbelievable. I’ve never seen a better Pacquiao than [I do] now,” said the hall-of-fame trainer.
Roach needs Pacquiao to be physically sharp so they can focus more on strategy since Mayweather is one of the craftiest fighters of this generation. Roach and Pacquiao have been watching tapes of Mayweather’s bouts, particularly the one with southpaw Zab Judah, to try anticipate what the American will do.
And a lot of what “Money” will do, Roach expects will be unveiled after the opening bell.
“I think Floyd put all of that muscle on for a reason and he’ll use it,” said Roach. “And he’s gonna come out after us fast. [The first round] should tell everything, what kind of fight we’re going to have; a boring fight or a good fight, either Floyd’s gonna fight us or [if he’s] going to run.”
Whatever direction the fight is going to take, Roach feels they have covered all the bases.
“Whatever they bring, [we’re] ready for it,” Roach said. “If they wanna run, we’ll take it. They can run but they cannot hide. If they wanna fight, were a hundred percent ready for that.
“We have the better puncher, the faster puncher. [There’ll be] no problems going toe-to-toe with [Mayweather].”
They’ve also figured out a way to break down Mayweather’s fabled defense and the traps the American may set for the eight-division champion, including the vaunted check hook that “Pretty Boy” used in dismantling Ricky Hatton in 2007. It wasn’t the move that knocked Hatton cold but it came before just before the deciding punch.
“We’ve already taken care of that,” said Roach. “We will not walk into his traps. He’ll set a few but it’s not that complicated. It’s easy to see ‘em and [Pacquiao] knows exactly what to do with that.”
Besides, the check hook counts on Pacquiao missing Mayweather a lot.
And “and he won’t miss Mayweather, I promise,” said Roach.
Roach isn’t worried about conspiracy theories smoked out by the selection of the referee and the judges.
“We have the best referee, Kenny Bayless,” he said. Judges, I don’t have a problem with. We’re not worried about the judges or the referee at all.”