By Chris Williams: Freddie Roach is finally starting to worry about his fighter Manny Pacquiao as the big fight with Antonio Margarito is fast approaching. Roach is concerned with the size of Margarito and the way that Pacquiao hasn’t been impressing against the young series of sparring partners that he’s being put in with during the training camp in the Philippines. Speaking with the BBC, Roach says “I’m worried the fight a little bit. We’re fighting against a big, strong guy who’s going to be in great shape and we’re a little behind schedule which is very unusual. I’m not sure if it’s the size of the sparring partners that’s giving him trouble or he’s just not himself yet. He’s getting better and better every day but it’s coming a lot slower than usual.”

Has Roach ever thought for a second that Pacquiao might be starting to show the effects of aging? For fighters, it hits them quick sometimes. One second their on top of the world, the next second their struggling through training camp against inexperienced fighters and fringe contenders and getting royally whipped in their fights. It just happens. You just get old sometimes and I think that’s a big part of what’s happening with Pacquiao. The other part obviously is the size of the sparring partners Pacquiao is in with. He’s eating six times a day, putting on even more weight and fighting bigger guys. He can’t just move these guys or take them out with one punch like the little Ricky Hatton. You got to hit the bigger fighters for a longer period of time to get them out of there.

And with the extra weight that Pacquiao is carrying, it’s obviously slowing him down. Never fear, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has already said that he’s going to move him back down to welterweight after this fight so that Pacquiao doesn’t have to keep taking on bigger and bigger fighters. It’s just too bad that Pacquiao wasn’t matched up with a real junior middleweight instead of Margarito, who basically is a welterweight who is moving up in weight to be an opponent for Pacquiao as he goes after another paper title to add to his collection. I would have liked to have seen Pacquiao matched against an authentic junior middleweight contender or champion in order to go after an 8th world title. Pacquiao will likely move back down to welterweight and fight Miguel Cotto again or possibly Floyd Mayweather Jr.