By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach is trying to get his No.1 fighter Manny Pacquiao to start backing off from his training exercises to get him at full strength for his clash against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the next 11 days, but Pacquiao reportedly doesn’t want to taper things off. He still wants to do as much as he was doing before in terms of exercises, and Roach is letting him.
Roach reportedly wanted Pacquiao to work the mitts for 10 rounds on Tuesday, but Pacquiao chose to do 12 instead. Roach didn’t push the issue, but it obviously isn’t a good thing when your fighter chooses to do things that you’re not asking them to do.
Once that happens, a trainer sometimes loses control and is basically just there for the menial tasks of holding the mitts, giving the fighter a drink of water, and standing around while they spar.
“I told him yesterday we’re toning down we’ll be doing only 10 rounds on the mitts today, but he asked for two more,” Roach said via Philboxing.com. “He won’t relent, so I couldn’t do anything but oblige. He’s been like that since last week even in sparring. I will be scheduling, say an eight or nine rounds of skirmish but he will be asking for more and I can do nothing but give him what he wants.”
There are things that Roach can do to regain control of the situation such as blowing his stack, getting in the face of Pacquiao, or simply telling him to go home. After all, it is Roach’s gym at the Wildcard in Los Angeles, California. If Pacquiao is going to start training himself by failing to follow instructions that are being told to him, Roach needs to reassert control of the situation by being assertive and forceful with his pupil. It’s no secret that Pacquiao hasn’t looked that great since being starched by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, and it’s no secret that Pacquiao hasn’t scored a knockout since 2009.
When you see a fighter choosing to do wants to do in training, it’s definitely not a good sign that things are going well. If Pacquiao was still knocking guys out left and right like he’d been doing in 2008 and 2009, then you could kind of ignore him choosing to blow of what Roach is telling him, but he’s not knocking guys out. He’s getting knocked out, and beating a lot of middle of the road fighters in terms of talent. Pacquiao hasn’t been fighting the dangerous guys like Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana, Kell Brook or Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. He’s been fighting slow guys like Brandon Rios, and weak punchers like Chris Algieri and Tim Bradley.
If Pacquiao chooses to train at full bore all the way up to the fight itself, he’ll only have himself to blame if he’s weak, drained, and not strong enough to compete. It’ll be on him for failing to listen to Roach. The sad thing is Roach will still get the blame for Pacquiao’s loss.
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