By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is starting to get stressed out with the slow progress of the Filipino star’s negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Roach is now complaining that there might not be enough time for the 36-year-old fighter to get his normal eight weeks of training before his next fight.
If Pacquiao does fight on May 2nd against Mayweather, he might have to have to be satisfied with getting only 6 weeks if the negotiations drag out until the end of February, and if a press tour cuts into Pacquiao’s training time.
“We are getting really close,” Roach complained to AFP via Gulfnews.com. “I need eight weeks. That window is getting smaller and smaller.”
Roach is starting to sound like an alarmist now. I hope Pacquiao and promoter Bob Arum isn’t leaving it up to Roach to play captain of the Pacquiao ship, because it would be a tragedy if Roach throws up his hands and says there can’t be a fight because Pacquiao isn’t getting his full eight weeks of training.
I think with the huge amount of money that Pacquiao can potentially make for the Mayweather fight, Pacquiao should survive if he doesn’t get the full eight weeks of training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOFSlkbsKuA
If all Pacquiao can get is six weeks or even five instead of the full eight weeks regimen, the huge amount of loot that he’ll be getting will make it worthwhile for him to forgo two to three weeks of training time.
After all, Pacquiao could make between $80-100 million to face Mayweather. Besides that, Mayweather will be getting shortchanged with the training time as well due to him being in the same boat as Pacquiao in waiting for the negotiations to be completed.
If it’s alright for Mayweather to get 5 to 6 weeks of training instead of the full 8 weeks, then it should be fine for Pacquiao as well. They would both be competing on an even playing field at least in having the same amount of training time.
Who knows? Pacquiao might even be better with him training only 6 weeks instead of the full 8, because Pacquiao is getting older now and he might not need to be working himself as hard as he did when he was a younger fighter.
Roach might actually be tearing Pacquiao down with his eight week training camps instead of accounting for his advanced age and easing off on the training for him.
“The boxing would start six weeks out, because if you go more than six weeks with Manny you’ll burn him out because of his work ethic,” Roach said.
If that’s the case, then it really won’t matter if Mayweather and Pacquiao take the negotiations into the beginning of March before they finish them up. It’ll still leave time for Pacquiao to get his full six weeks of training.
Even if Pacquiao didn’t start the boxing training until March 15th, that would still give him a full six weeks of training before his fight against Mayweather on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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