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Freddie Roach has been breaking down the style and technique employed by Floyd Mayweather, which has made him the unbeaten fighter he is today.
Roach had begun his research on Mayweather before the planned super-fight between Pacquiao and the leading American boxer of today was derailed by rows and disagreements over drug-testing procedures.
Roach told me: “I’d been looking at how Mayweather reacts against south paw fighters. There’s quite a difference to how he reacts with right handed fighters. He’s not that comfortable with the south paw stance. It gets him in a little trouble.”
Yet Roach spelt out in clear terms the task facing Pacquiao should he meet Mayweather in a ring, later this year. “It’s more about his positive things that we have to stay away from.”
“It’s a complicated game plan I was beginning to put together. You look at the way Floyd fights. If you put pressure on him, on the ropes, he rolls and ducks, and counters and if you get too aggressive, he’ll walk you so cleverly onto a counter punch. He’s not the most offensive fighter, not the most entertaining fighter, but he is great at what he does.”
“Do we have to be ready for all of it ? Yes. It’s going to be a real, real, mental fight, and this is 100 per cent the biggest challenge Manny Pacquiao has ever faced.”
Would Roach have done anything different to Mayweather’s style, if he had trained him? “A little bit more offence, because of his hand speed and abilities. I’d have got him to use it to his advantage more. I don’t think anyone trains Mayweather. He was born to fight. It is in his blood.”
“There are not a lot of weaknesses. It has to be a special 36 minutes from Manny. We have to fight the perfect fight.”
“It is hard thinking about it. When decisions haven’t yet been made. I think the fight has to happen. I think it will happen. It’s good for boxing, it is good for the world. If it doesn’t happen, we might go back into a recession in boxing again, because it is the fight which is anticipated. The public wants to see it, and I want to see it too.”
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