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Manny
Pacquiao, a three-division world champion gunning for a
fourth crown, pound-for-pound king and a
multimillionaire. What more can he ask for?
Ask his
trainer Freddie Roach and he will tell you there’s a lot
more to achieve for Pacquiao.
Interviewed by the BusinessMirror, Roach gave that
opinion after being told that David Diaz is hoping the
Filipino boxer will finally lose that determination and
hunger to campaign in a highly competitive level.
“Manny
still knows that this is what he does best and he still
enjoys it. So that’s why, probably, I’m giving him a
couple more years because he really loves training and
gets in shape and loves the competition,” said Roach
during a break in training Saturday at the Wild Card
Gym.
Although
Roach admits it will be a whole new experience for them
to fight in the lightweight division, Diaz is not the
type of fighter who will give them fits come fight
night.
“We’ll
know on fight night if Manny can bring the punch with
him and punch like what he did as a 130-lb fighter.
We’ll also know if he can take the power of 135-lb
fighters like Diaz,” said Roach.
“Diaz is
a tough guy, a little bit stronger, a little bit bigger
than Manny. I don’t predict knockouts too often but I
think Manny will knock this guy out.”
Diaz and
Pacquiao will slug it out for 12 rounds, or less, this
weekend at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas,
Nevada. At stake is Diaz’s World Boxing Council (WBC)
lightweight crown in a battle which will serve as
Pacquiao’s debut in the tough 135-lb division.
“’Game
plan’s in place and Monday morning will be our last day
of sparring. I think everything’s gonna be great. Diaz
likes the fight, Manny likes the fight and it should be
a great match,” added Roach.
The
32-year-old Diaz (34-1-1 with 14 knockouts) was crowned
the regular WBC lightweight champion when he outpointed
Morales in their 12-round encounter August of last year
in Rosemont, Illinois. Before that, Diaz captured the
interim belt with a 10th-round TKO over Jose Armando
Sta. Cruz in August 2006 at the Thomas and Mack Center
in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On the
other hand, the 29-year-old Pacquiao (46-3-2, 35
knockouts) won the WBC super-featherweight crown via
split verdict over bitter Mexican rival Juan Manuel
Marquez on March 15 also in LasVegas. The win made
Pacquiao the first three-division world champion from
Asia. He also held titles in the flyweight and
super-bantamweight divisions. |
