Richardson remembers very first training session between pacquiao and roach

RICHARDSON REMEMBERS VERY FIRST TRAINING SESSION BETWEEN PACQUIAO AND ROACH October 13th, 2011 | by Felix Strunk In a recent interview, world-class trainer Naazim Richardson recalled the story behind the first time that five-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach ever worked with 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, a decision that has produced arguably the best fighter/trainer combination the sport has seen in quite some time. For those that were unaware, Richardson used to work with Roach several years ago. It was during that period when a small, skinny Filipino kid by the name of Manny Pacquiao first walked through the doors of the famed Wild Card gym. Bouie Fisher used to always tell me in the gym, “Watch that door and eventually the right kid is going to walk through it.” I asked him what he meant by that and he said, “One day, a kid is going to walk through that door and do whatever you tell him to do and be able to adjust to anything that you want him to adjust to.” I remember when me and Freddie Roach was working together and Freddie told me when Manny Pacquiao walked through the door at Wild Card Gym, he said to himself, “That’s who I built this gym for.” Freddie was reluctant to work with Pacquiao at first because he knew there wasn’t much entity at those lower weight classes, and Manny was a small dude. One day, Manny had no one to hold the mitts for him and asked Freddie to give him 2 rounds, and from that moment on, Freddie knew what he had. The rest, as they say, is history. The pairing of Pacquiao and Roach would produce incredible results as the two would go on to rewrite the record books in boxing. If it wasn’t for Roach taking a chance on “the little guy” during a time in boxing when all the big money was in fights at 147 pounds and above, who knows how things would have played out? Thank goodness for that 2 rounds of mitt work.