?WE WILL GO FOR A KNOCKOUT? - ROACH
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 12 Oct 2013
GENERAL SANTOS CITY ? ?If that?s what we need, we?ll get it.?
This, in essence, was Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach proclaimed by way of reacting to persistent reports for Manny Pacquiao?s need to knockout American Brandon Rios in his comeback fight six weeks from now in Macau.
?Obviously that?s what Manny wants when he decided to start his preparations 10 weeks from fight time,? the 53-year-old four-time corner man of the year said upon his arrival here to personally handle Pacquiao?s fine-tuning in his efforts to vault back from a pair of losses he suffered last year and reclaim his reputation as one of the best fighters all-time.
?The camp looks to have started the way it should, with the end in view of preparing Manny to win convincingly, preferably by knockout. We?ll continue trekking that road with our eyes focused on that,? Roach assured as he paid tribute to the efforts of assistant trainers Buboy Fernandez, Nonoy Neri, Roger ?Haplas? Fernandez and the rest of the training team in laying the groundwork for the next six weeks of training program.
?Very good, I think the camp has done well,? Roach, who arrived in Manila Thursday morning with a pair of sparring partner ? British Liam Vaughan and Chinese Yang Lianhui ? in tow, said in seeing the inroads his prized pupil achieved the past four weeks or so since pitching camp at the Pacman Wild Card Gym.
?I have actually been monitoring the progress of the camp through the videos Manny himself has been sending me daily and I can say that everything?s going a-okay,? Roach assessed as he witnessed the Pacman pummeled sparring mates Dan Nazareno and Ghanian Fredrick Lawson in a nine round skirmish.
?We?ll definitely go for a knockout. Manny still gets what it takes to regain his status and that what we will be proving in this fight against Rios,? he vowed, clarifying though that the there?s no room for complacency because the Mexican-American is a tough fighter and would a tough nut to crack.
?But Manny, definitely, is tougher. He looks to have shed off the rust brought about by almost a year of inactivity. Bringing him back to his fighting form won?t be that hard. He only needs some adjustments,? Roach observed.
?Manny, you see, is his trainer himself. He knows how to conduct himself in training, he knows how to pace himself,? Roach, who started his athletic career as a miler and ballplayer before being lured to the sweet science as a fighter, divulged.
Asked if former conditioning coach Alex Ariza?s transfer to Rios' camp can adversely affect Pacquiao?s performance, Roach,? immediate reply was, ?who cares??
?All he does anyway is stretch people and hug them,? he added jokingly even illustrating how the prodigal conditioning coach does his things.
Pacquiao traded punches with gusto for three rounds against Nazareno, a Philippine junior-welterweight contender before working for six more against Lawson, the newly-crowned IBF international welterweight belt holder, flashing his old fighting form to that impressed Roach no end.
The four-time Fighter of the year honoree of the Boxing Writers Association of America then switched to the mitts for four rounds with his mentor, while rounding out the two-hour workout staying two one round with the heavy bags and a pair of rounds each on the double end and speed ball and on the ropes.
Roach also expressed satisfaction over the choice of Lawson who, along with Nazareno Vaughan and Yang will form a quartet of sparring that will see to it that Pacquiao recovers from his long absence in the ring.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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