Roach says Manny most lethal at 140

LOS ANGELES – Freddie Roach said the other day WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s power hasn’t diminished with age and explained that the reason why his last six wins were on points was because he’s fighting bigger opponents in the 147-pound division.

Pacquiao, 35, hasn’t stopped an opponent since halting Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto, now trained by Roach, in 2009. In his last eight bouts, Pacquiao has won six by decision and lost twice. His weight in the eight fights ranged from 143 to 147. He scaled 147 in losing to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez and 145 in beating Brandon Rios and Bradley in a rematch.

“I think Manny is strongest at 140 (lightwelterweight) and he can still make the limit if he wants to,” said Roach. “Manny went up to the welterweight division because that’s where the money fights are.” Roach laughed off speculation that age has eroded Pacquiao’s knockout power. “Age has nothing to do with it,” he went on. “If you notice, Manny has knocked out only two opponents as a welterweight (Oscar de la Hoya and Cotto).” One of Pacquiao’s most devastating knockouts was his second round demolition of Ricky Hatton in a lightwelterweight title bout in 2009.

Roach said now that Pacquiao is older, there are adjustments in his training regimen and fighting style. “Manny’s a lot smarter today,” he said. “We’ve made adjustments in his training routine. We don’t do too many uphill runs anymore, just short sprints. It’s the same thing we’re doing with Cotto as he prepares for (Sergio) Martinez. You won’t see Manny charging in wildly during a fight. He’s more calculating. He’s fighting more intelligently.”

Roach said Pacquiao beat Bradley convincingly in the rematch two weeks ago. “I bet $3,000 on Manny and I won $1,100,” he continued. “Bradley’s not a big draw so I heard the fight brought in only 800,000 pay-per-view hits.” Roach said if Pacquiao and Marquez were to meet again, the fifth meeting would register at least a million pay-per-view buys because of their bitter rivalry.

Roach’s assistant Marvin Somodio said he was impressed with Pacquiao’s performance against Bradley. “Manny fought really well,” said Somodio. “Bradley’s tough. He was unbeaten. Not even Ruslan (Provodnikov) could knock him out and Ruslan dropped him twice but still lost on points. It’s unfair to say Manny has lost his power because he didn’t knock out Bradley. Nobody has ever knocked out Bradley. Manny’s a wiser fighter now, he’ll do what it takes to win.”

A tactic that Pacquiao employed in the Bradley rematch was advancing to the center of the ring before the bell sounded to start every round while his opponent sat on the bench, catching his breath. Bradley had to be exasperated as Pacquiao answered every bell raring to go like he never ran out of gas.

Somodio said that tactic was used by former lightweight, lightmiddleweight and supermiddleweight champion Vinny Pazienza to unsettle opponents. Roach recalled that Tommy Cordova, who beat him on a split 12-round decision in 1984, employed the same tactic.

Roach said he couldn’t travel to Russia for the Denis Lebedev-Guillermo Jones rematch a week ago because of his commitment to train Cotto for his Martinez fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 7. Somodio went to Moscow instead to work Lebedev’s corner but an hour before the fight was set to start, the WBA announced that Jones had tested positive for a banned substance furosemide which is used to bring down weight.

“We were in Moscow for two weeks and Denis was ready to go,” said Somodio. “The promoter (Andrei Ryabinski) asked if we would like to fight Jones despite the finding. I phoned Freddie long distance to ask his advice. We agreed not to fight. Freddie told me it’s a high risk on Denis’ life. Jones tested positive for the same substance in their first fight and Denis took a beating because it seemed like Jones was much stronger. Denis lost the fight but the WBA ruled it a no-contest with Denis retaining the cruiserweight title.”

Somodio said the downside was Lebedev wasn’t paid his purse. Somodio also didn’t get paid. Fans who bought tickets were promised a refund. Somodio reported for work at the Wild Card Gym here the morning he arrived from Moscow.

As for Cotto’s fight against Martinez, Roach said he’s confident the Puerto Rican will win. “Martinez is a big favorite to beat Cotto, like a 3-to-1 favorite so I’m betting $5,000 on Cotto,” said Roach. Martinez, 39, has won his last seven fights, including a decision over Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., and will defend his WBC middleweight crown against Cotto who is coming off a third round stoppage of Delvin Rodriguez last October.