Celebrated American trainer Freddie Roach makes it sure that no stone will be left unturned with regards to Manny Pacquiao’s preparations for his keenly-awaited return bout against Mexican dynamite Juan Manuel Marquez, setting off the Pacman to train in seclusion at his private gym starting today.
Roach is full of praise to the work ethics of Pacquiao, but wants to give his prized ward some sense of privacy to keep him away from any distraction.
Roach even brought the adjoining building of his gym and added another ring so that Pacquiao could spar in private.
“Pacquiao is training very well,” said Roach in a report by fightnews.com. “We’re working on the strategy of the fight, we’re fighting a southpaw. We had too many people — there weren’t many spectators in the gym, but it’s just too crowded with all the fighters here so tomorrow I have to move him next door (his private gym). More privacy, you know?”
Pacquiao (45-3-2, 35 KOs) is set to challenge Marquez (48-3-1, 35 KOs), the reigning WBC super featherweight champion, in a 12-round rematch for the ages topbilling the “Unfinished Business” card on March 15 at the Mandalay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
During their first encounter in May 2004, Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round, but the Mexican showed great recuperative powers on the way to forge a controversial split draw in an epic battle that could have gone either way.
Since then, Pacquiao went on to demolish Mexican stars, knocking out Erik Morales twice and sending Marco Antonio Barrera into retirement, while Marquez ascended to the WBC 130-pound throne with a unanimous decision victory over Barrera last year.
Aside from disproving Pacquiao’s tag as “Mexican Killer”, Marquez has other thing in mind and that is to prove he is the best of the Mexican featherweight from his era.
“I’ve always wanted to prove that I was better than Marco Antonio Barrera and better than Erik Morales,” Marquez told the sweetscience.com. “I proved it against Barrera but Erik Morales never wanted to fight me.”
“I’ve been trying to demonstrate who I am. I built a career in Los Angeles and people will know me in Mexico when I beat Manny Pacquiao,” added Marquez. — EBV