Roach: Manny doing just fine

MANILA, Philippines - On the occasion of Manny Pacquiao’s 32nd birthday, boxing trainer Freddie Roach said yesterday he couldn’t wish anything more for the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter because the ring icon is doing “just fine.”

 Roach flew in from Los Angeles last Tuesday and is in General Santos City to celebrate Pacquiao’s birthday today with promoter Bob Arum and WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico.

At the moment, Pacquiao is on top of the world, widely regarded as the best boxer there is and the best there ever was. Two books were recently published in the US about his life – ”Pacman: Behind the Scenes with Manny Pacquiao, the Greatest Pound-for-Pound Fighter in the World” by Gary Andrew Poole and “Pacman: My Story of Hope, Resilience and Never-Say-Never Determination” by Pacquiao and Timothy James. He was recently featured in a TV documentary on the Bio channel and a two-part series on BBC World Service.

A US TV crew with renowned director Leon Gast is in town to produce a movie on Pacquiao. Gast directed the 1996 Academy Award winner for best documentary feature “When We Were Kings,” a film about Muhammad Ali’s win over George Foreman in Zaire in 1974.

Roach said because Pacquiao’s win over Joshua Clottey in Texas last March wasn’t particularly exciting as the Ghanaian covered up most of the way, it’s possible the Filipino won’t win Fighter of the Year honors for 2010 although his battering of the much bigger Antonio Margarito was sensational last month. In line for the award is WBC and WBO middleweight champion Sergio Martinez of Argentina. Martinez rebounded from a lacklustre 2009 to outpoint Kelly Pavlik last April and stop Paul Williams last month.

Roach said Pacquiao’s mastery of Margarito was the high point in his own record this year.

“I’m done for the year, now I’m on vacation,” said Roach. “I didn’t have a bad year at all with 27 wins and only two losses. My best fight was Manny’s win over Margarito by far.” One defeat was Gerry Peñalosa’s loss by split decision to Eric Morel last February and the other was a four-rounder.

Roach said he trains only 12 fighters exclusively, including WBA superlightweight champion Amir Khan of England, WBA welterweight titlist Viacheslav Senchenko of Ukraine, unbeaten Mexican heavyweight Andy Ruiz, Jr., undefeated Nigerian cruiserweight Lateef Kayode and unbeaten superwelterweight Vanes Martirosyan.

“Right now, I’m not training any Filipino other than Manny,” said Roach. “But soon, I might be training Bernabe Concepcion who lost to Juanma (Lopez) this year. There’s a Filipino lightweight out of San Diego who comes around to train at Wild Card. He’s undefeated (20-0-1, with 10 KOs) and a real prospect. His name is (Mercito) Gesta and one of Gerry’s brothers (Erbing) is his trainer.”

Roach was particularly enthused by the progress of Ruiz and Kayode. Ruiz, 21, halted Francisco Diaz in two rounds in the undercard of the Nonito Donaire-Vladimir Sidorenko mainer at the Honda Center in Anaheim last Dec. 4. Ruiz’ record is 7-0, with 5 KOs. After the demolition, former WBC superfeatherweight titleholder and TV commentator Genaro Hernandez predicted Ruiz would be Roach’s next heavyweight champion. Roach has worked with former heavyweight kings Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer in the past. Roach said another fighter to watch is Kayode, a power puncher whose mark is 15-0, with 14 KOs.

Roach was impressed by Khan’s display of courage in beating tough Argentinian challenger Marcos Maidana by a unanimous 12-round decision in Las Vegas last Dec. 11.

“Maidana was down in the first round but came back strong,” said Roach. “He gave Amir a beating in the 10th round. In the corner before the 11th, I honestly thought of stopping it but I saw that Amir’s head was clear. I was amazed that Amir came out and won the 11th round.”

And he finished with a flurry in the dying seconds of the 12th. Amir showed a lot of heart in that fight, like his idol Manny. Amir does a lot of things that Manny does, like bang his gloves together. I don’t think they’ll ever fight but if they do, I see Amir winning the first four rounds, mainly because of his speed, then Manny will take over and break him down.”

Roach said Senchenko could be a possible future opponent for Pacquiao even if he now works the Ukrainian’s corner.

“I don’t know if Senchenko will ever fight Manny but never say never,” continued Roach. “If they fight, of course, I’ll be in Manny’s corner and Senchenko’s old trainer will be in his. There’ll be something to fight for because Senchenko has a belt.”

Roach was in Senchenko’s corner when the Ukrainian beat Charlie Jose Navarro on points to retain his WBA 147-pound crown in Donetsk last August. He was paid $10,000 a week to train Senchenko for six weeks and also received 10 percent of his purse.

Roach said there is talk that WBA superwelterweight champion Miguel Cotto will stake his crown against Martirosyan, an Armenia native, with the winner to face Margarito. “Vanes has a chance against Cotto because of his length, youth, speed and skills,” said Roach. “But Cotto is the type who comes right at you. Vanes has a tendency to run away from trouble. I’ve told him if he wants to beat Cotto, he’ll have to stand his ground.”

Roach said he recently released one of his hot prospects, 18-year-old lightwelterweight Jose Benavidez who has a record of 9-0, with 9 KOs. “He’s back in Phoenix,” said Roach. “It was difficult to deal with his dad.”