No more Mr. Nice Guy, Roach tells Pacquiao

BAGUIO CITY—Bringing out the killer’s instinct used to be easy for Manny Pacquiao.

Once his opponent landed a solid blow and he was unable to retaliate, Pacquiao would get mad. He would bang his gloves, snort and move in ready for the kill.

Well, not anymore. Pacquiao seems to have mellowed with age and his esteemed position as congressman of Sarangani.

Fact is, he has mercifully allowed his last three opponents—Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley—to go the distance.

Coach Freddie Roach has seen Pacquiao’s transformation and against Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12,  he wants the pound-for-pound king to stop being Mr. Nice Guy.

“He (Pacquiao) is too nice. He is the nicest person around. I mean, how can you teach him not to be,” said Roach.

“I want to see a knockout. I’d really like to,” added Roach, who wants Pacquiao to finally shut Marquez up in their third fight for the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown slated at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Roach misses the Pacquiao of old. Wild, furious, relentless.

“He knocked out four of them with only one hand,” Roach said about the time he got Pacquiao into his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Pacquiao at that time was a natural southpaw whose main weapon was his left cross.

“Now that he can fight with both hands, he can easily knock down (Juan Manuel) Marquez,” Roach said.

The problem of course is Mr. Nice Guy.

During his mitt training session here Wednesday, Pacquiao must have said, “I’m sorry” 20 times to Roach every time he hit him. This drew a laugh from the 51-year-old American trainer.

“He is too compassionate,” said Roach, noting that Pacquiao “carried” the bloodied Margarito through the last three rounds even if he could have finished him off.

It is Roach who is fuming about Marquez’s allegations that he was robbed during his first two fights with Pacquiao.

“I feel Manny won both fights,” Roach said. “We were the ones who were robbed.”

According to Roach, a Hall of Fame trainer, an early knockout by Pacquiao would put an exclamation point on the trilogy.

Roach said he hoped it would be the last fight of Pacquiao against Marquez, who escaped defeat in their first bout through a judge’s scoring error and then lost the second by split decision.