Manny Pacquiao trains inside the Top Rank gym in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight Timoty Bradley Jr. for the third time on Saturday (Sunday, Manila time) PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA
LAS VEGAS–He misses the days when Manny Pacquiao mowed down opponents one by one, when his knockout predictions were accurate down to the round it would would happen.
Now, Freddie Roach knows better. The seven-time trainer of the year doesn’t want to rehash an old error when Pacquiao faces knock Timothy Bradley on April 9.
For Roach, a convincing win would suffice. A stoppage would be a bonus.
A shaky victory, however, will make Roach unhappy as he wants Pacquiao to end his ring career in a blaze of glory.
“He maybe worked out a little harder than usual,” I said, ‘let’s go out with a bang.’ That’s what we intend on doing,” said Roach.
Informed that Bradley may be using the same strategy Juan Manuel Marquez used to stop Pacquiao with one second to go in the sixth round of their 2012 battle, Roach said the former World Boxing Organization welterweight champion will be mistaken.
According to Roach, Pacquiao won’t charge recklessly as he did against Marquez.
“We’re professionals, we won’t make that mistake,” said Roach. “We’re not going to go in there looking for a knockout. We’ve never looked for a knockout because if you do it will never happen. The knockouts come as kind of a bonus, but we never look for them out there.”
Roach, however, told the Inquirer that if Pacquiao drills Bradley right, “he’ll fall down.”
In his prime from 2008 to 2009, Pacquiao scored four straight KOs over bigger foes like David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.
A defensive-minded Joshua Clottey stopped the KO streak in 2010 before Pacquiao let the hulking Antonio Margarito, who came in 16 pounds heavier over him, and Shane Mosley finish on their feet in 2010.
Though Pacquiao hasn’t talked openly about a knockout, Marvin Somodio, Roach’s assistant at Wild Card Gym, and assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez are hoping that he will finally knock Bradley out and make Roach smile again.
