ROACH SAYS HATTON WILL BE A VERY GOOD FIGHT FOR MANNY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 08 Jan 2009
Trainer Freddie Roach says the showdown between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Britain?s Ricky ?The Hitman? Hatton will be a ?very good fight for us.?
Roach who spoke to www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports from his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles conceded that Hatton is ?a tough guy who never lost at 140 pounds? but just as quickly added, ?there?s always a first time for everyone.?
Roach noted that Hatton had ?a little bit of a different style? from Oscar De La Hoya who Pacquiao pulverized over eight rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on December 6 and is ?more aggressive.?
The celebrated trainer who has honed the skills of Pacquiao and turned him into the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world revealed that Hatton ?likes to hold a lot. He throws one or two punches, then holds? indicating he?s figured a way to get out of that situation.
Roach said training camp will open on March 1 and from then on it will be the same rigorous routine which was followed for the De La Hoya fight following a press tour that will take Pacquiao to London and Manchester (hometown of Hatton) later this month followed by a swing through key cities in the US in the last week of February. ?Then we?ll start training right after the press tour? added Roach.
He said he had been ?thinking about sparring partners and have a couple of guys in mind? but would finalize details with them first before giving out their names.
In an overseas telephone conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum that the press tour stops will be in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Arum said he met with Golden Boy Promotions Chief Executive Officer Richard Schaefer in Las Vegas and they met separately with the representatives of MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood and Wynn. He said they would ?weigh all the offers and pick the one that?s best for the promotion and the fighters and so forth. But right now I don?t know exactly where its going to be.?
Arum said he was glad to have ?Freddie in our corner because there is no trainer around better than Freddie Roach. He proved to me in the last fight (against De La Hoya) that he is not a b?l s?t guy and he knows what he?s doing.?
The Top Rank trainer also expressed his disappointment over IBF/IBO flyweight champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire?s decision to train in Baguio City with WBO bantamweight champion Gerry Penalosa and his brothers, former world champion Dodie Boy and Jonathan Penalosa.
Donaire is scheduled to move up in weight to fight WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel at the Araneta Coliseum on March 15 in a fight being promoted by Top Rank in cooperation with Solar Sports. However, the latest word we received is that Montiel can?t make the weight and Donaire may end up fighting Puerto Rico?s Jose ?Carita?Lopez for the title to be vacated by Montiel.
Arum said ?they are all driving me crazy.?
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