Freddie Roach, Nacho Beristain bask in supporting roles

SACRAMENTO, California—The biggest hype machine for the third fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez is also its loudest squawk box.

Views expressed on HBO’s “24/7 Pacquiao-Marquez 3” reverberate around the world.
It’s no wonder Hall of Fame trainers Freddie Roach and Nacho Beristain have turned the cable giant’s marketing series into a platform for a nonstop gabfest about the protagonists as they train for their long-awaited bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 12.
Don’t ask Roach and Beristain if they’re ready for their closeups because on 24/7 they always are, with both Madison Avenue and Madison Square Garden in their heads. They are willing talking heads for a Pacquiao-Marquez 3 infomercial while regaling viewers with their vast ring knowledge and waxing hot about the skills of their fighters and what they have to do to triumph.
Both trainers are no shrinking violets when it comes to speaking their minds. Beristain, well aware that the forthcoming fight is only the second for Marquez at 144 pounds, minced no words, acknowledging that it’s a challenge for his fighter to bulk up without sacrificing strength and speed.
Marquez lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. at that weight two years ago, a defeat Beristain traces to a “training that was different.” “Marquez was carrying rocks and it changed his natural ability,” the trainer said. “He became a little slow as if he’d lost his explosiveness. And with Mayweather’s great ability and his weight advantage, we didn’t stand a chance.”
As his training intensified, Juan Manuel pummels his sparring mates without letup at Mexico’s Romanza Gym, knocking them to the canvas to the buzz of the crowd. But Beristain is unimpressed.
“Accidents (the knockdowns) can happen in the ring during training,” he told 24/7. “There is no reason to start celebrating yet. Our goal is Pacquiao, he is what we’re working for. What happens here may not bring us better results in the fight on Nov. 12.”
At one point during the second episode of “24/7 Pacquiao-Marquez 3,” Nacho stepped in while Marquez worked the bags, and told his guy: “Think about how you will respond, because the son of a b*tch might catch you with a hook.”
Roach, on the other hand, keeps up with the fast pace of Pacquiao’s workouts at his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and enlightens 24/7 with an asterisk in Manny’s regimen. “Manny is one of those guys. He is not gonna give you everything in sparring,” Freddie said. “He’s gonna give you 50-60 percent … he’s gonna save himself for the fight.
Despite their ring success, Freddie and Nacho still find great satisfaction in molding young fighters dreaming of climbing boxing heights Pacquiao and Marquez have scaled.
Beristain said he respects his young boxers so much because “they were the reason I was inducted into the Hall of Fame.” Working with them, he said gives him a reward he can only find in Mexico City’s dusty arenas.
Roach harks back to that day 10 years ago when Pacquiao walked into Wild Card and forever changed his world. He pays tribute to Manny whose life may have been transformed by fame and wealth but whose humility and resolve have stuck.
“His lifestyle may have changed and his bank account may be bigger,” he said of Pacquiao. “But you know, when he comes through those doors (at the Wild Card), he’s still the dedicated guy.”
Roach lays out the bigger stakes for a Pacquiao victory. “He has a whole country on his back. If he loses the fight, he will have let the whole Philippines down. And he is not prepared to do that at this point of his life.”
The third episode of the four-part “Pacquiao-Marquez 3” series airs Saturday night here as HBO ratchets up its multiplatform machine to entice diehard and borderline pay-per-view customers to shell out $54.95 for the fight.
It promises to peek more into the daily routine of Pacquiao and Marquez in and out of the ring leading up to their third matchup.
“Step into their lives before they step into the ring,” the teaser to the episode proclaims.