Roach: Pacquiao has something to prove to people

By Boxing News - 05/27/2012 - Comments

Image: Roach: Pacquiao has something to prove to peopleBy Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach commented last night on Pacquiao/Bradley 24/7 episode 2 about the perception that his fighter Manny Pacquiao is considered to be on the decline by a lot of people in the boxing world.

Roach said “I think Manny Pacquiao realizes that some people in the world think he’s not that good anymore maybe; that he’s washed up a little bit, because his last three fights haven’t been the old Manny Pacauiao, and I think he has something to prove to people.”

Roach is wrong about one thing. The last four fights HAS been the the old Pacquiao, but I’m not talking about the younger Pacquiao from the past. I’m talking about Pacquiao plain looking like he’s gotten older. He’s not fighting at the same level he once did in his last three fights, and it’s not just the way he’s fighting. He also looks older, and that’s something that Roach can’t change.

Something happened between Pacquiao’s fight against Miguel Cotto and his fight against Joshua Clottey, because he went from looking sensational in the Cotto fight to looking like a flat-footed arm puncher in the Clottey fight. He threw over a 1000 punches in the Clottey fight but many of them seemed to be arm punches thrown without aim, landing harmlessly on the gloves of Clottey. Pacquiao got hit with a lot of hard jabs from Clottey in that fight and took a few terrific shots from Clottey. But Pacquiao’s fights against Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez were less than spectacular performances from Pacquiao. This isn’t a case of three fights in a row, it’s four fights. When you have that many off performances coming consecutively like this, it suggests that it’s something that is beyond change. In other words, Pacquiao probably won’t be able to work through this just by having a good training camp, because he’s not dominating like he was when he first moved up in weight to the welterweight division. Something has changed. I think it’s age and the affects of too many ring wars. He’s over 30, and he’s taken big shots. I don’t see Pacquiao being able to prove anything to anyone on June 9th against Tim Bradley.

If Roach pushes Pacquiao too hard in the Bradley fight, we could see Pacquiao coming up with the leg cramps again and that will mess things up for the Filipino star. You can’t beat a fighter like Bradley with leg cramps. You might be able to do it against fighters like Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey, but not Bradley.



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