Roach, reluctant player in Pacquiao circus, ponders life without fighter
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Manny Pacquiao is running nearly two hours late for his training session at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
That’s not unusual. Of Pacquiao’s many strengths, punctuality is not one of them. The world’s best pound-for-pound boxer goes by his own clock. When he finally arrives, there’s a camera crew from Comedy Central waiting for him to tape a segment on the “Tosh.0” show.
Nothing unusual about that, either. There are almost always visitors when Pacquiao shows up to train. One day it’s Don Rickles. The next, Norm MacDonald. On this day, it’s Daniel Tosh.
Freddie Roach smiles weakly as his fighter walks in. What else can he do?
“There’s always distractions,” the trainer says. “That’s the way it is.”
Roach’s saving grace is that once the sideshow is over and Pacquiao actually begins training, it’s all business. He has Pacquiao’s undivided attention and the two always appear on the same wavelength. After 11 years together, Roach knows what to expect from Pacquiao.
“I never worry about Manny once he gets to work,” Roach said. “It’s the ‘getting him to work’ part I worry about.”
Roach won’t have to worry about such things much longer. After Saturday’s WBO welterweight title fight against Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden, Pacquiao will return to the Philippines, put on a suit and tie and go back to being Congressman Pacquiao. And at age 33, Pacquiao has said he will fight only a few more times before devoting himself to politics full time.
For Roach, who has a stable of fighters to train and whose gym in a rundown strip mall on Vine Street is a beehive of activity from early morning to late night, the idea of life after Pacquiao is something he doesn’t dwell on. Yet, he concedes he has pondered what it will be like.
“Sometimes I think I’ll retire when Manny does,” said Roach, 51. “We can ride off into the sunset together.”
Still, Roach wishes he didn’t have to deal with the daily distractions that have become part of Pacquiao’s regimen.
“There are days where I get fed up with all the craziness,” Roach said. “I wish I could tell everyone to get the (expletive) out of here. But I know I can’t do that. Fortunately, Manny is such a hard worker, once we get going, everything’s fine.”
Roach said Pacquiao’s training for Mosley has been almost the opposite of the fighter’s camp when he faced Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13.
“From the first day, he’s trained hard,” Roach said of Pacquiao, who broke camp Sunday, traveled to Las Vegas by bus Monday and will make his official arrival at the MGM at 12:30 p.m. today (Mosley’s arrival is at noon). “Usually on the first day, Manny runs on the flat and then he builds up and runs the hills. For this camp, he ran the hills right away. That showed me how serious he was.”
Roach had thought Pacquiao’s camp for the Margarito fight was his worst during their time together. But whatever issues there were, they haven’t been obstacles on fight night. Pacquiao dominated Margarito the entire fight, winning a 12-round unanimous decision at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and sent Margarito to the hospital with a broken orbital bone in his right eye.
So if Pacquiao can do that after a subpar training camp, what does that mean for Mosley on Saturday? Roach said every fight is different and Mosley presents problems that Pacquiao hasn’t faced in a long time.
“Mosley’s bigger and he’s fast — the fastest fighter we’ve fought,” Roach said. “He’s got a great chin. Nobody’s ever knocked Shane out. And he’s a very smart fighter, probably the smartest fighter Manny has faced. Manny realized this and I think that’s why he’s worked so hard in this camp. He knows he’s in a fight with Mosley.”
But while Pacquiao is close to the end of his boxing career, the reality is Roach probably will remain active in the sport. He’s in high demand and, besides Pacquiao, he is training Amir Khan, the world junior welterweight champion, and rising middleweight star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., among others.
“I love what I’m doing,” said Roach, who is holding his own in a 19-year battle with Parkinson’s disease. “But it will be a sad day for me when Manny retires.”
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter @stevecarprj.