By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach is worried that his fighter Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) is spending too much time entertaining with his large entourage at home rather than resting in between workouts as he gets ready for his important rematch against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) in less than two weeks on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Roach says he went to Pacquiao’s place and he found a large horde of people there talking with the Filipino star. Needless to say, Roach wasn’t pleased.
“I was at Manny’s house the other night and I saw no less than 35 people there with Manny, dining with him and I guess several of them live there with him,” Roach said to Phil Boxing. “I don’t know any of them. That, of course, is taboo to one preparing for a fight, a very important fight that might spell the difference between continuing his career or hanging his gloves altogether.”
I get the feeling that Roach has already stewed up a good excuse to spring on the media when/if Pacquiao loses to Bradley on April 12th. Roach has already put the excuse out there with this quote, and now all he needs to do is bring it up fresh at the post-fight press conference to explain why things didn’t work out for Pacquiao.
Roach needs to realize that it won’t be because of Pacquiao’s large amount of friends that he loses to Bradley, if he actually does lose the fight. Pacquiao will lose because Bradley is simply the better fighter. There’s nothing wrong with Pacquiao entertaining his friends at home. That’s not going to be the reason why Bradley beats him. Roach needs to realize this and quit harping about it.
The good news is that Pacquiao’s entourage will likely disappear soon enough, so Roach will finally be happy. The bad news is that the entourage will likely scatter once Pacquiao is beaten and is no longer the fighter he once was. Pacquiao will be able to get plenty of peace and quiet, but I don’t think that’s going to turn back the hands of time.
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