Freddie knows: It’s Pacquiao in 6 rounds

MANILA, Philippines - Freddie Roach only knows one thing: Manny Pacquiao will knock Brandon Rios out on Nov. 24 at the Venetian Hotel in Macau.

Roach loves to pick a round when he predicts knockouts. Against Oscar dela Hoya, he picked the ninth round, and the fight didn’t last nine rounds.

This time the celebrated trainer is saying it won’t last six.

“I think Manny is going to outbox him (Rios) and knock him out inside six rounds,” said Roach in a media conference call from General Santos City the other day.

The transcript of the call was e-mailed to The STAR by American publicist Fred Sternburg yesterday.

Roach said Pacquiao is “90 percent” ready for the fight, which takes place at high noon of Nov. 24 (Nov. 23 in the United States) in Asia’s gambling capital.

Pacquiao has been working harder and longer than before in training, and the other day Roach gave the Filipino icon more time to rest after a great run in the morning.

Roach said he noticed that Pacquiao looked tired when he showed up at the Wild Card Gym.

“You know Manny, you can take the day off. Go home and get some rest,” Roach told Pacquiao, who was scheduled to spar six rounds yesterday and another four on Saturday.

Pacquiao will fly to Macau on Monday afternoon or four days after Rios set foot in the gambling haven and declared that “victory is mine.”

Roach knows the importance of the fight, the first for Pacquiao this year, and the first since he took a crushing knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December.

In June last year, Pacquiao also lost to Tim Bradley.

Pacquiao can’t afford another loss. In fact, he can’t afford an ordinary win against his younger and hungrier foe from Oxnard, California.

Pacquiao needs to be impressive. He needs a knockout to show the world that he’s still the same old fighter that once ruled the sport.

Otherwise, Roach said he will pull the plug himself.

“If Manny boxes a good fight and does well and he gets a bad decision then we’d have to sit down and talk about it. But it’s really hard to say until we see the fight.

“If I see he is slowing down and slipping in the fight I will be the first one to tell him. We have an agreement that I will tell him that and he will retire,” said Roach.

So far in training, Roach is happy with what he’s seeing.

“I don’t see him slipping in the gym at this moment and he’s doing really well. If things don’t go well we will talk about retirement and going into politics full time or something like that,” he said.

Freddie knows.