Pacquiao Will Only Spar 90-100 Rounds For Mayweather

By Edward Chaykovsky

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is getting young, hungry sparring partners for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who is preparing for a high stakes unification against WBC/WBA champion Floyd Mayweather Jr on May 2nd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Roach is getting fighters who are undefeated, with good records, who are able to mimic certain aspects of Mayweather's style.

"I really don’t believe in getting older guys to be your sparring partners — guys who are just in front of you. I like getting young contenders, it helps them along the way and Manny will make some of them a better fighter by just the knowledge that they’ll get by being in the ring with him," Roach told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.

There won't be as much sparring for Mayweather. Pacquiao will count in up to 60 less rounds for the match, with Roach placing the bulk of the focus on strategy.

"I’ve got a lot of young kids coming in and they’re all very good fighters, they all have very good records, most of them are undefeated. Usually we average about 150 rounds of sparring but for this fight, I’m going to shoot for about 90-100 because I don’t feel like we need the wars anymore like we used to, we need just more technique and more strategy for what Mayweather brings to the table," Roach said.