By Allan Fox: Trainer Freddie Roach says that Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) says he’ll take care of Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on Saturday night. The way Roach describes it, Pacquiao will partially be doing it for him because of the way that Rios teased him three years ago while speaking with Antonio Margarito.
In clowning around with Margarito, Rios imitated the way the way that Roach moves and talks. Roach later saw the video and he was upset about it.
Roach said via AP via ESPN “(Pacquiao) said to me, ‘Are those the guys that made fun of you?’ and I said yes, and he said, ‘That’s all I need to know,’ and he walked away. He told me he’s going to take care of this guy quickly.”
Two days ago, Roach and Rios’ strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza got into an argument, resulting in Ariza kicking Roach in the chest when Roach attempted to walk up on him while arguing. The incident took place in Macao, China, and Roach wanted Ariza to be arrested but it didn’t happen. Roach also wanted Ariza removed from the gym by security, but that didn’t happen either. It wasn’t Roach’s Wildcard gym, so it was a completely different situation for him.
Roach said this about being kicked in the chest: “What (Ariza) doesn’t realize is that Manny hits me 10 times harder every day. It was like a girl kicking me.”
Roach seemed pretty upset about being kicked in the chest. It may not have been as hard as one of Pacquiao’s punches, but Roach looked really upset about it.
It might not be in Pacquiao’s best interest for him to be fighting Roach’s battles with Rios, because if the idea is for Pacquiao to box Rios to avoid getting hit in the head, this could put Pacquiao in a vulnerable situation where he’s fighting Rios’ fight. Roach should be urging Pacquiao not to try and and fight harder because we could see him get knocked out by Rios if he tries to fight too aggressively. Roach was the one that came up with the stupid idea for Pacquiao to fight like he did in his mid-20s for his last bout against Juan Manuel Marquez last December. Pacquiao followed Roach’s instructions and fought in a high-paced manner like he used to do, and that in turn backfired on him when Marquez knocked him out cold in the 6th round.
Roach needs to toughen up when it comes to being criticized by fighters. He can’t be counting on his fighters to beat everyone that takes a jab at him, because Pacquiao is an aging fighter now and he could get up getting badly hurt by one of the young guys that Roach wants him to get even with.
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