By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach shot down the rumor that Manny Pacquiao will us using WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux as one of his sparring partners to get him ready for his May 2nd fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
The rumor started recently on a site, and then it took from there with a number of other sites reporting the news without them checking it out with Pacquiao and Roach to verify if it were true or not.
It made absolutely no sense for the shorter 5’4” southpaw Rigondeaux to mimic the 5’8” Mayweather, who fights out of the orthodox fighting stance. The two fighters are completely different with how they fight, and Mayweather out-weighs Rigondeaux by at least 20 to 25 pounds.
The only thing that Pacquiao could accomplish in sparring with Rigondeaux would be to get used to the hand speed that he’ll be seeing when he gets inside the ring with the blazing fast Mayweather. But it would be really tough on Pacquiao to spar with Rigondeaux, because he would give him a lot of problems, and likely out-box Pacquiao each time they spar.
Sparring Rigondeaux might actually be demoralizing for Pacquiao, because he’d be hitting air so much, and he’d major problems with Rigondeaux’s body shots, and right hooks to the head. Pacquiao needs to get out of his training camp on a high note with him feeling confident rather than coming out of training camp possibly unhappy with the way things went with his sparring sessions.
Pacquiao has two sparring partners – Rashidi Ellis and Kenneth Simms Jr – that are already known. The other sparring partners are being kept a secret by Roach and Pacquiao. It’s unclear what difference it makes if their names are known or not.
It’s not as if Mayweather is going to steal them away. Mayweather reportedly has close to 15 sparring partners in his game, so he really doesn’t need to get any more.
Pacquiao is training at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles, California with Roach. Pacquiao is going to need to have his best training camp ever for him to have a chance against Mayweather, because the way he’s looked lately, he’s not going to be able to compete with him.
“I really think that you’re going to see a toe to toe battle between these guys,” Arum said via Thaboxingvoice.com. Anybody who says this will be a dull fight is just making things up. They don’t understand boxing.”
It won’t be a dull fight, but I also don’t think it’s going to be a toe-to-toe battle like Arum says it’ll be. No way is Mayweather going to start fighting Pacquiao’s fight by standing in the center of the ring and choosing to brawl with him. Pacquiao needs Mayweather to brawl with him for him to have a chance of winning this fight.
If Mayweather boxes Pacquiao from the outside and uses movement, Pacquiao is going to be as helpless as a baby in this fight, believe me. Pacquiao cannot handle Mayweather if he chooses to box and move like he did in his last fight against Marcos Maidana.
“I really think it’s going to be a terrific fight because Manny’s style is going to force Mayweather into fighting, into firing back,” Arum said. “You know Mayweather is a better offensive fighter than people give him credit for…I really think it’s going to be an offensive battle.”
I think it’s a case of wishful thinking for Arum in terms of him hoping that Mayweather and Pacquiao will brawl in the center of the ring. If the two fighters fight like that, then it helps Pacquiao. Arum obviously wants to keep his money fighter Pacquiao winning as long as possible, because once he stops winning then the gravy train will be over.
Comments are closed.