By Edward Chaykovsky
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach has WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao focused and ready to avoid the incoming right hand from Floyd Mayweather Jr., the WBC/WBA champion at 147 and 154-pounds. Mayweather-Pacquiao takes place on May 2nd from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao returns from a dominating performance over Chris Algieri in November. Algieri went down six times in the contest, but Roach didn't like the fact that Pacquiao was following him around the ring a little too much. He wants Pacquiao to avoid doing that in May, because Mayweather will use that type of approach to set up his right hands.
"In the Algieri fight, [Manny] followed him too much, and I wasn't really happy about the way he went about that fight," Roach told CBS Sports. "The first thing in the gym here, we go back to cutting the ring off and how he's going to fight Mayweather and not fall into traps."
"Mayweather does set traps. When he's moving along the ropes and you follow him, he will set you up for the right hand. That is something we had to work on. We work on it every day. And Manny knows the answer to that puzzle every time. Every time I set the trap, he steps away and puts himself in a neutral position. That's the smartest thing to do against Mayweather at this point."
Roach studied Mayweather's two recent fights with Marcos Maidana. He felt the Argentine strongman spent too much time in the pocket and got countered at every turn, but found success when Mayweather was against the ropes.
"I'm having Manny working on not staying in the pocket too long and getting out before Mayweather hits you back," Roach said. "Because Mayweather, when you hit him and fight him, he will fight back. When he does take a rest on the ropes and his legs start to fade a little bit, Manny will dominate him at that point. Manny is really fired up for this. I've never seen him more excited for a fight.
"I've never seen him more enthusiastic about what I'm teaching him and what I'm showing him. The responses back are really, really great. I really like where he is right now. This is the first time we've fought a fighter, I think in our lifetime, that he doesn't like the opponent."