LAS VEGAS — Freddie Roach has won the Boxing Writers Trainer of the Year award seven times. But you get the feeling he would trade all of them for Manny Pacquiao to defeat Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Before Wednesday’s formal press conference, the last time the boxers would face each other before their pay-per-view showdown, Roach remained confident Pacquiao, a 2-to-1 underdog, would earn the victory.
“I think we can out-point the guy, and if the knockout comes it will be a bonus,” Roach said.
You wouldn’t expect Roach to say anything less. He and Pacquiao have been together since the Filipino walked into Roach’s Wild Card gym in Los Angeles looking for guidance long before anyone in America knew his name. They won championships together and became rich together. But though Pacquiao was in the process of becoming a global super star, Roach always was preparing for a potential fight with Mayweather.
He admitted he had watched more film on Mayweather than any opponent in his career and the pupil of legendary trainer Eddie Futch remains confident he has discovered “flaws and habits” in the unbeaten Mayweather that Pacquiao will exploit.
“When he dips the way he does, he does that out of habit,” Roach said. “And that puts him right in line with a southpaw’s power.”
That could be wishful thinking, as 47 previous opponents thought they had a plan to defeat Mayweather only to come away with a loss.
“This is not about the trainers,” Floyd Mayweather Jr. said, “it’s about the two fighters.”
It actually is about the trainers, too. Roach and counterpart Floyd Mayweather Sr. have enjoyed their own verbal sparring, exchanging far more trash talk than the boxers.
“It’s going to be one-sided,” Floyd Sr. said Wednesday, “and if it’s not one-sided, [Pacquiao] is going to sleep.”
The only other dissing Wednesday came from rival networks Showtime and HBO, who thanked everyone for their efforts in the promotion except each other. It remains to be seen whether the actual bout will be as testy.
Roach thinks he has found the answer to solving Mayweather by watching his early rounds against Zab Judah in 2006 and Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. Judah is a southpaw who got the best of things for the first three or four rounds against Mayweather before losing a decision, as did De La Hoya when his jab was an early weapon.
“I know why Oscar beat him the first three rounds,” Roach said. “But then he stopped using his jabbed and started following [Mayweather]. We’re not going to make that mistake.”
Roach was coy about reports he had a former member of Mayweather’s boxing gym sparring with Pacquiao and breaking down film of Mayweather.
“I’m told he was there for just about the whole camp,” a Team Pacquiao source said. All Roach would offer was, “I don’t know his name, but it worked out really well.”
Mayweather said he expects to make more than $200 million off this matchup, but Roach suggests this is a fight he doesn’t want.
“I think he was forced into this fight,” Roach said. “I don’t think he wants to fight this fight.”
Later Roach added, “I’m wondering if he’s going to show. I really do.”
The common thinking is Pacquiao’s best chance for victory is to stay busy and keep Mayweather off-balance with a rapid-fire southpaw attack. It will be a rare occasion when Mayweather is the bigger fighter.
“Weight doesn’t win this fight. Speed does,” Roach said. “Manny likes to exchange, and I think Manny is a little faster.”
Pacquiao seems as confident as Roach.
“The killer instinct and the focus I had 11 years ago is back,” he said. “In previous fights I’ve never felt like this. I’m 100 percent relaxed and confident.”