IT WILL BE ALL ABOUT MANNY?S HEART
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 02 May 2015
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The guy with a big heart, speed and power will come out victor in the Manny Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather Jr. superfight on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the MGM Grand Arena here.
And if chief trainer Freddie Roach is to be believed, that guy is no other than his pupil, World Boxing Organization welterweight king.
"Manny has a big heart, very fast and superbly powerful as he showed in the entire training camp that started in General Santos City and ended up in Los Angeles," Roach said Thursday, eve of the scheduled official weigh in for the biggest and richest fight in the history of sweet science.
"I have yet to see a fighter as dedicated and as determined as Manny during he camp," Roach observed. "Only a guy with a big heart can do what Manny had done in this tough and rigorous training."
"None, not even Mayweather," he assured. "It's because of what he had experienced from the time of his boyhood in order to eke out a living to be who he is today."
Photos: Pacquiao in his final workout at the Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas Thursday. Photos by Windell Rupert Alinea.
Roach stressed that his guy is very motivated for this fight , adding no one scares him anymore. That Manny is as hungry as before. "Manny not only possesses a big heart, he is he fastest fighter, too, in both his legs and fists," he said. "He can throw anyone off balance on his leg movements, forward, backward and sideways."
The 55 year-old seven-time trainer of the year said his partner of 14 years owns the quickest pair of fists which he had shown in his previous outings say, against, (Oscar) De La Hoya, (Antonio) MaRgarito (Ricky) Hatton and (Miguel) Cotto, to mention a few.
"Didn't these guys told you they didn't know where Manny's punches were coming from?" he asked. "Well, Manny's back with the kind of shots he used to throw. Make no mistake about it."
"And they were all powerful, strong punches. Look at what happened to Oscar's face, Margarito's, even Cotto's," Roach recalled.
Roach said he and his coaching team -- conditioning coach Justin Fortune, Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri, Roger "Haplas" Fernandez and Marvin Somodio -- trained Pacquiao to be able to fight for 15 or more rounds just in case the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assocition 147-pound champ decides to use his running tactics to avoid the Filipino hero's punches.
"I said this before and I'm saying this again, Manny will throw tons of punches and we'll try to win every round and will settle for a decision victory," he asserted.
Roach said that if Mayweather's game plan is anchored on Pacquiao's sixth round KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, he's gravely mistaken.
"Manny and us have learned the lessons of that defeat, Manny, in fact has scored three consecutive impressive victories after that," he pointed out.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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