By Edward Chaykovsky
How confident is Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach of victory on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas? Confident enough that he won't be surprised if Manny Pacquiao dominates the entire fight and wins every single round over undefeated WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The mega-fight is now less than a week away and both sides are making very big boasts regarding their ability to win. Uncle and co-trainer Roger Mayweather predicted earlier that his nephew will secure a knockout victory within five rounds of action.
Roach is predicting a knockout as well, but also says Pacquiao is not going to get wild to get one. The game plan appears to be to overwhelm Mayweather with a high workrate and force the pound-for-pound king to fight off the ropes.
"Floyd likes to flow around the outside of the ring. He prefers the ropes to the middle so he can wait, set traps, suck you in and pick you off with his counters. Especially that very good, very straight right. The old Manny might have walked into that. Not now. He will close him down, catch him with two or three hard punches but then move. Floyd will throw back alright but Manny won’t be there," Roach told Daily Mail.
"The first time anyone can remember Manny ever watching a boxing tape was when I showed him one of Floyd’s fights. Showed him how the game plan can work. He liked it. He said ‘I can do that, no problem.’ He saw how Floyd throws a lot less punches, maybe 35 a round against up to a hundred of his own. But that also persuades him he can afford to be patient if necessary."
"So while he won’t go mad for the knockout, it could come from Manny’s left. If not I won’t be surprised if he wins every round. Pitches a shutout. Either way, Floyd doesn’t have the power to hurt him."
