Pacman show upsets Roach

By: 14 years ago

MANILA—Manny Pacquiao rocked both Amir Khan and Michael Medina in his final sparring session at the Johhny Elorde Gym in Quezon City yesterday, but still failed to impress trainer Freddie Roach.

Roach was evidently looking for something from the pound-for-pound king, and wanted Pacquiao to be more serious, active and focused.

“We didn’t have a great day of sparring today but he looked good in spots when he wanted to,” Roach told the Inquirer after Pacquiao went three rounds with Medina, took on WBA light welterweight champion Khan over four rounds and had Medina return for another three rounds.

“He [Pacquiao] played a little bit too much,” Roach said. “He needs to get his game face and try and get a little more serious, and I expect that to happen in the last week in Los Angeles.”

The fact that Pacquiao went 10 rounds with two well-rested sparring partners proved to Roach that “his condition is no problem at all.” “We need to see him a little more active and a little more focused,” the trainer said.

Roach said Pacquiao staying on the ropes and taking shots like he did at some stages of the fight against Miguel Cotto “was not part of the plan but he likes to play” when he has the audience.

Pacquiao showed what he’s capable of doing in a final 30-second burst at the end of the third round when he rocked Khan.

“When he (Pacquiao) wants to, he is right there, but the thing is Amir let him off the hook a couple of times also when he had Manny against the ropes and had him.”

Khan admitted that Pacquiao caught him with some good shots.

“With Manny, you can’t be too confident. You see what he did? I had to get my defense up,” Khan said. “Manny hits hard but I didn’t get hurt. But he’s been training hard all week and when he spars, it’s just 50 or 60 percent.”