Freddie Roach, who trains eight division champion Manny Pacquiao, agrees that his boxer's corner was a real mess last Saturday night.
In a much tougher fight than anyone had expected, Pacquiao was upset by 2012 Olympian Jeff Horn, who won a shocking twelve round unanimous decision to capture the Filipino star's WBO welterweight title before 51,000 fans at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum was very upset with the way Pacquiao's corner was handled.
After the contest, Pacquiao complained that Horn was fighting very dirty - by using his head, elbows, and pushing down on his neck throughout the entire contest. Pacquiao suffered two bad cuts from accident head clashes.
In the opinion of Arum, Pacquiao's corner was in chaos during the contest and he says they were way too overconfident coming in.
“What the hell is wrong with that corner? Why wasn’t Freddie Roach out in the ring between rounds yelling at the referee? It’s his job, and there’s confusion in the corner with the languages, with [assistant trainer] Buboy and [cut man] Miguel Diaz yelling and screaming like a maniac,” said Arum to The Los Angeles Times.
“And Freddie has to stay close to Manny to give him some advice … to me, they were so overconfident going in — [conditioning coach] Justin Fortune tells the press that the only way Horn can win is if Manny trips going into the ring. I had seen the kid. I told everybody he was a big, tough kid who could take a punch. I didn’t think he’d beat Manny, but it wasn’t the same Manny.”
Roach agrees with Arum's take on the disorganization in Pacquiao's corner last weekend.
Roach, who doesn't talk very loud, said he wasn't able to properly get his instructions across to Pacquiao, because Diaz and Buboy were both very vocal and excited in the corner.
“It’s hard when Buboy (Fernandez) is yelling, and Miguel (Diaz) is telling me he has to get in the middle to work on the cuts,” said Roach to USA Today. “And to get my message across to Manny what he should be doing is very difficult. Miguel is getting older and he has trouble getting in and out of the ring, and Buboy gets excited. Control in that corner has always been a little difficult.”