?IT WAS VERY CLOSE BUT STILL A WIN.? - ROACH
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 16 Nov 2011
LOS ANGELES, Cal. ? Five-time ?trainer of the year? Freddie Roach admitted the Manny Pacquiao, who beat Juan Manuel Marquez by majority decision Saturday to retain his World Boxing Organization welterweight title was not the same old pupil he used to be.
A day after arriving from Las Vegas Monday, Roach, in an interview with this writer in his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, dismissed though the notion that the eight-division champion is already in the downtrend as several boxing writers are claiming.
The 51-year-old, likewise, admitted the fight was closed but lamented insinuations that Marquez won the fight and that he was ?robbed? of victory.
?Manny won very clearly and those who know their boxing know that,? Roach said. ?Maybe Manny?s win was not as convincing as people were expecting. But he won and that?s a fact. ?
?It was very close, yes, but it still is a win. Those who believe otherwise should watch the replay and they will see that Manny was all over Marquez all throughout the 12-round bout,? he added.
?Manny threw more punches that earned for him the needed points. Marquez connected with more telling blows that were very evident. But they came too far between,? Roach noted. ?It was like one for every three punches Manny connected. So, in the end, my guy emerged the winner.?
?Honestly, Marquez fought not to win the championship. He fought as if to prove that he really won their first two fights,? he remarked. ?Otherwise, he could have pressed the fight up to the very end and not rest in the last two rounds, where Manny was at his best. You cannot win a championship that way.?
?Manny, on the other hand, fought in defense of his crown and he did. He did not rob Marquez of the victory and the championship. He won the fight and kept the title. That?s all there was to it,? he philosophized.
Roach noted though that his pupil of 11 years was a far cry from what he was in his previous fights even before minutes before the championship encounter.
?Manny was not the Manny Pacquiao I used to see during fights that day. He?s not as happy as before his previous fights and even before we left Manila,? he recalled. ?While before he used to smile and laugh during pre-fight rituals joking with members of the team. That Saturday, he was not even smiling.?
Reacting to news report that he and Pacquiao were not convinced that they won after the grueling 12-round showdown as they remained silent with bowed heads while Marquez and his camp were celebrating, Roach had this to say:
?I have always been quiet even in victory. As for Manny, well, he was booed for the first time in his career. He never was heckled in almost a decade that we are together. You can?t celebrate while you are being booed.
?Besides, after the fight, he went to his corner to pray. Perhaps prayed and thanked God that he survived the rough grind unscathed. Manny is a very prayerful guy. He always attributes to God what he has accomplished as a fighter.?
Roach agreed that the pound-for-pound king struggled to achieve the triumph even as he heaped praises on Marquez as a great fighter he is known to be.
?His style is very difficult for us,? he admitted. ?At 38, everybody thought he?s on the way out. Not yet. He added weight and as we thought that slowed him down,? Roach observed.
?Yes, Manny, through his all evening aggressiveness, slowed him down, especially in the last two round where he should have pressed more. Maybe there was no gas left in his tank or he thought he was leading and that made the difference,? he said.
?Manny, on the other hand, kept on pressing, kept on attacking up to the last tick of the 12th and that impressed all the three judges into deciding he?s the winner,? he said. ?Manny is still very strong and very fast. Make no mistake about that.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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