By Chris Williams: Freddie Roach, the trainer for the recently KO’d Manny Pacquiao, says he’s going to be monitoring the Filipino closely in his next training camp to see if he’s suffering the after effects from his 6th round knockout at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez last December.
Pacquiao was knocked completely out by a right hand from Marquez in the 6th, and the shot sent Pacquiao down face first.
Roach said to the latimes.com “he [Pacquiao] says he’s fine and I believe him. There are things I will be looking for in our next training camp. First, it is the footwork. I will be able to tell if he starts feeling for the canvas…I’ll look for any slight tremors.”
Roach says he’s going to scale back the amount of sparring that Pacquiao does from here on out to reduce the amount of punishment he takes in getting ready for his fights.
All these measures sound fine, but if Pacquiao still insists on fighting then there’s not much Roach can do other than accept it or quit.
It’s not realistic that Pacquiao is going to walk away from a boxing career that brings him in over $20 million per fight no matter who he faces. If Pacquiao wants to fight, he’s likely going to keep fighting even if Roach voices his displeasure.
Interestingly enough, Roach blames the KO loss on Pacquiao stepping on Marquez’s feet. Roach says that Pacquiao lost his balance when Marquez pulled his feet out from under Pacquiao’s left foot in the 6th round. This left Pacquiao off balance, Roach says, and Marquez was then able to nail him with a right hand to KO him.
I don’t believe that is the reason for Pacquiao getting knocked out, but if it helps Roach feel better then I’m happy for him. Pacquiao didn’t get knocked out because he stepped on Marquez’s foot and lost his balance. Pacquiao got knocked out because he charged Marquez and didn’t keep his guard up to protect himself in the last seconds of the 6th.
Marquez had already proven that he can knock Pacquiao down earlier in the fight when he dropped Pacquiao in the 3rd round with a big right hand, and I’d love to hear what Roach’s excuse was for that knockdown. Pacquiao’s knockdown of Marquez in the 5th came when Pacquiao stepped on Marquez’s foot and nailed him with a shot at the same time. I’m not sure why Roach isn’t mentioning that.
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