Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7 – Manny Doesn’t Look Good In Training

By Boxing News - 04/15/2009 - Comments

hatton35335By Manuel Perez: Freddie Roach made a huge mistake in letting the HBO film crew tape portions of Manny Pacquiao’s sparring in the Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7 special, because it gave me a good chance of seeing Pacquiao spar with a couple of his sparring partners and he didn’t look at all, believe me. I was hoping that Pacquiao’s trainer was teaching him things about how to properly fight, but I didn’t see anything new from Pacquiao.

What I did see was Manny making the same amateurish mistakes that he always makes when attacking his opponents by charging at them and shooting both hands out in front of him as he runs forward. This isn’t boxing if you ask me, and the only reason it’s worked in the past was because of Pacquiao’s hand speed, poor opposition and power.

Pacquiao has been able to get away with having bad boxing technique only because of his power and speed. Well, I’m glad I saw him sparring because now I know for a fact that Hatton is going to beat him come May 2nd.

Hatton is going to take advantage of Pacquiao’s wild charges by getting low and hitting him with uppercuts and straight rights as Pacquiao comes charging forward. I can also see Hatton taking a page out of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s playbook by moving to the side just as Pacquiao comes running forward and then landing a hard left hook to the side of Pacquiao’s head.

This is going to be a lot easier fight than I originally thought it was. I expect that Roach was going to teach Manny how to get off the ropes and show how to maneuver out of the way of Hatton when he attempts to get him cornered. Instead, it’s Manny fighting like he always does by sprinting forward in a wild man attack and hoping to overwhelm his opponents with fast shots.

I should have expected it, though, because Pacquiao took on Roach as his trainer not too long ago, and by then Pacquiao was a fully formed fighter with his own techniques totally ingrained. It’s difficult to teach old dogs new tricks, because often the dogs are set in their ways and lack the youthful mental flexibility to learn new things.

Maybe this is why I see Pacquiao fighting pretty much the way he’s always fought despite all the yapping going on from Roach. I can see Pacquiao looking at Roach when he talks, but it’s like he’s looking right through him and thinking of something else.

It’s the same in between rounds in Pacquiao’s fights. Roach is talking to him and giving Pacquiao valuable instructions and Manny is tuning him out, looking up at the huge video screens in order to catch a replay of himself fighting.

That’s not training, and I see Pacquiao as basically training himself similar to the way that Miguel Cotto has done for a number of years. This is another reason why Pacquiao is going to lose to Hatton. It’s strange, though.

Pacquiao doesn’t seem to listen or apply anything that Roach tells him, and then wins on talent alone. After the fight, Roach seems to be beaming with pleasure as if he has done such a good job training Pacquiao.

If you ask me, he’s done a terrible job because Pacquiao doesn’t seem focused on the training. That’s why Hatton is going to win, because he seems totally focused on everything that Mayweather Sr. says to him. I think with Mayweather Sr., he forces you to respect him and give him a lot of attention because of his forceful personality.

If a fighter doesn’t look him in the eyes or listen to what he’s saying when he speaks, Mayweather Sr. will jam them up and confront them immediately there and then. He doesn’t seem to care whether he’s fired or not, because he believes in what he’s doing and demands respect.

I don’t know what the deal is with Roach, but I don’t think his training is sinking in with Pacquiao and I think he’s mostly just wasting his time. In watching Pacquiao train, I can’t see any real training going on as far as learning.



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