ROACH AND BERISTAIN MATCH WITS AGAIN
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 27 Nov 2012
MANILA(PNA)- If Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez have unfinished business to settle when they meet for the fourth time on December 8, so do their respective trainers - Freddie Roach and Ignacio ?Nacho? Beristain, respectively.
The ?Pacman?, of course, will be out to prove his two-win, one-draw record over Marquez is no fluke, while ?El Dinamita? will, once and for all, prove his repeated pronouncements that he won all their three previous fights are no figment of his imagination.
While Pacquiao and Marquez will be trying to erase each other for the fourth time, Roach and Beristain, on the other hand, will be strutting wares in techniques and magic in the corners for the fifth time with the five-time ?Trainer of the Year? honoree by the Boxing Writers Association of America looking forward to a five-peat sweep of all their encounters.
Roach was also in Pacquiao?s corner when the Filipino eight ?division champion demolished and forced legendary Oscar DeLa Hoya into retirement with an emphatic and sensational ninth round technical knockout victory on December 6, 2009.
Beristain managed a draw decision with Roach the first time their wards battled each other on May 8, 2004 when Marquez successfully defended his World Boxing Association and World Boxing Federation featherweight crown despite dropping to the canvas thrice and was only saved by judge Burt Clement?s error in scoring.
Four years later, Roach made it 2-0 over his Mexican counterparts when Pacquiao settled for a split decision triumph on the strength of sending Marquez down in the third round and, thus, took the latter?s super-featherweight diadem.
Last year on almost the same date, the now 52-year-old American training guru guided his prized pupil to a majority verdict that, like their previous remained doubtful in the eyes of many, thus, this Act IV of the two finest fighters? storied feud.
Like Pacquiao and Marquez, Roach and Beristain would also like their students to win convincingly this time, if possible via stoppage, and they look moving no stone unturned in attaining their target by charting rigid and extensive training regimen at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for Pacquiao and at the Romanza sweat shop in Mexico City for Marquez.
Both Roach and Beristain are acknowledged two of the finest trainers in the world today having been elevated to boxing Hall of Fame although the Mexican earned the distinction earlier in 2006, while the American only last June.
Roach has, so far, produced no less than 22 world champions, the most notable of whom is Pacquiao, The only man in the entire universe to owns eight belts in as many weight divisions and fellow Filipinos Gerry Penalosa and current unified flyweight kingpin Brian Viloria. Among the most prominent former belt holders who worked with Roach were Amir Khan, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.and DeLa Hoya.
Beristain trains the Marquez brothers Juan Manuel and Rafael. His first world champion was longtime bantamweight and Super Bantamweight champion Daniel Zaragoza. He also guided Gilberto Roman to the WBC super-flyweight title. In the 1990s, Beristain handled the highly regarded champion Ricardo strawweight and light flyweight Lopez
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