Even before Manny Pacquiao sent his Armenian sparmate on the floor with a right hook, trainer Freddie Roach was already convinced that Ricky Hatton just doesn’t stand a chance on May 2.
“The more I see him on video, all the more I am convinced that Manny’s going to take him out,” Roach told the Bulletin yesterday from the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood moments after Pacquiao kicked off the sparring phase of his training.
“Guys who put Ricky in trouble just could not finish him off and against Manny it’s going to be different,” said Roach.
“Once Manny hurts him, Manny’s going to finish him. Manny’s a great finisher and now I believe that Manny’s going to knock him out in three rounds.”
Roach had initially predicted that it will take Pacquiao nine rounds to get the job done, but sang a different tune with 46 days before the scheduled 12-round super-lightweight match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“Ricky’s made for Manny,” said Roach, sounding delighted — but not ecstatic — with the manner with which Pacquiao decked Glendale-based welterweight Art Hovhannesyan in the fourth and final round of the sparring session.
“I wanted Manny to spar four rounds but it was stopped even before the round ended because Hovhannesyan suffered a cut,” said Roach, noting that “all in all it was three and a half rounds.”
Hovhannesyan, who holds a 70-1 win-loss-draw with two knockouts, is one of countless others Roach is bringing in to the gym to lend a hand in whipping Pacquiao into form for the British banger.
“I have somebody from San Francisco and several others from other places who are coming in,” said Roach, singling out Mexican-American knockout artist Urbano Antillon, best known for mauling Bobby Pacquiao in less than a round last year, as the one who will report for sparring next week.
“Ricky has an awkward style and I am going to find out who among them (will be retained),” said Roach, stressing that the succeeding sparring will be done in moderation.
Under Roach’s plan, Pacquiao will rack up another four rounds on Thursday then go five rounds each on Saturday and Tuesday.
Roach is so serious and determined to prove the critics about his forecast that there he is cutting down on the promotional activities in the days leading to the big fight.
In fact, Roach has instructed Top Rank, which promotes Pacquiao and calls the shots for the May 2 show that the planned April 21 appearance of Pacquiao in San Francisco will be brief.
“Manny will be throwing the pitch (during the San Francisco Giants-San Diego Padres game) then we fly back to Los Angeles,” said Roach.
Meanwhile, Top Rank publicist Lee Samuels said the March 30 meeting between Pacquiao and Hatton will be staged at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
Source: mb.com.ph
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