Roach satisfied with Baguio camp

Just hours before leaving the country to resume Manny Pacquiao’s training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, Freddie Roach found time to talk to the media about his ward’s preparation for the fight with Timothy Bradley.

And things, according to Roach, are looking good so far.

About a week after declaring that Pacquiao is still not in fighting shape, Roach is now optimistic with how they ended their training camp at the Shape Up Gym in Baguio City.

“We’re doing very well. The camp was very well. It’s a good starting place for us, a routine training place for us,” Roach said at the SCOOP weekly forum at Kamayan restaurant on Padre Faura Street in Manila.

“We’re at about 50 percent now and we still have five weeks to go. I think we’re right on schedule,” added the bespectacled trainer, who graced the forum with Marvin Somodio, Pacquiao’s new strength and conditioning coach.

Roach expressed delight at how Pacquiao has been working out, allaying fears that his ward is taking the Bradley fight lightly.

“Bradley’s a new guy, he’s undefeated. That’s some challenge for Manny. We didn’t have a good fight the last time out [against Juan Manuel Marquez], so it’s a challenge. He’s undefeated and he’ll come to fight,” he said.

For his part, Somodio, a late replacement for Alex Ariza who left the Pacquiao training camp for California, said the eight-division champion is doing better as time progresses. 

Somodio said he focused on the things that gave Pacaquiao problems before, particularly his leg which had been prone to cramps.

“His conditioning now is looking very well. I’ve focused on his leg which always seems to be cramping but it is okay now,” he said in Filipino.

“During the early parts of training, his leg was always stiffening. But given the proper exercises, we’ve worked on it and it is good now,” Somodio added.

Roach, meanwhile, was all praises for Bradley, saying the undefeated fighter possesses resiliency and toughness.

“He’s strong, very resilient, never been knocked down or knocked out,” Roach said. “There’s no quit in Bradley, he works really hard, he trains all the time.”

But in the end, Roach said Pacquiao will be too much for the American.

“I don’t think he (Bradley) will last 12 (rounds), but it’s too soon to give a prediction. But he won’t last 12 rounds,” the chief cornerman declared. (Report by Christian Jacinto/ Video by Cris Cayanan)