By Lem Satterfield
Five-time Trainer of the Year, Freddie Roach, spoke to BoxingScene.com on Tuesday, this, a mere hours before heading off to his Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood to resume workouts with eight-division king and Manny Pacquiao in preparation for Pacquiao's May 7 defense of his WBO welterweight belt against Shane Mosley.
On Monday, Roach returned from having spent five days in England, where he guided WBA junior welterweight champion, Amir Khan (25-1, 17 knockouts), through Saturday's sixth-round, unanimous technical decision over Paul McCloskey (22-1, 12 KOs).
Roach told BoxingScene.com that training is right on schedule for Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs), whom he expects to be the first man to score a knockout against Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs).
BoxingScene.com: How are things going with Manny Pacquiao?
Freddie Roach: I got back Sunday night, and then, I went to the gym with Manny on Monday. And you know what? Manny was really hungry for the mitts. So we did 14 rounds on the mitts. We trained with no rest. Period. I mean, it was 14 rounds, straight through. And, he was just on fire and happy to have me home and he literally beat the sh*t out of me. And he did it in front of my mother.
BoxingScene.com: What is your mother's name, what was she doing there, and what do you mean by that?
FR: Her name is Barbara. She comes into the gym every once in a while and she moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and she helps me run the front desk and so forth. She helps me out a lot.
BoxingScene.com: Did Manny ever slip up and miss the mitts and hit you in the face?
FR: Yeah, but he doesn't really do it...Let's just say that it's not by accident. He does it to show me where the openings are sometimes. So he caught me about six times yesterday, just showing me where the openings were. He sort, well, didn't pull his punches, but just hit me hard enough to get my attention.
BoxingScene.com: How are Manny's body punches coming along?
FR: Well, with the body protector on, he caught me and doubled me over at least once or twice. There was a guy there from CBS who wanted to feel the way the punches felt. He wanted to feel how hard Manny hits, and Manny dropped him with one body shot, even though he was wearing the body protector.
I mean, he had the whole camera crew there and everything, and he went right to his knees. And again, the guy was wearing my protector like I said.
BoxingScene.com: What is Manny Pacquiao's weight right now?
FR: He's right at 151 right now, so the weight's good. We opened the gym weighing at around 146, so we get a little weight on him for the bigger sparring partners. He's doing quite well. So Manny's right on track, and he's in great shape, and we'll spar 10 rounds today. We're right in the middle of crunch time and the hard work. He's doing great.
BoxingScene.comn: Do you have a formal prediction on what the result will be between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley?
FR: I'm looking forward to Manny being the first person to stop Shane Mosley. I know that Shane's a very durable fighter and that he's never been stopped before in his life. But I'm really urging and encouraging Manny to fight at an even faster pace and to push this guy. That's because I want Manny to make a statement.
I want Manny to become the first person to ever stop Shane Mosley, and I really believe that he can do it. I think that Manny can be the first one to knock out Shane Mosley.