 A Refocused Pacquiao Prepares for Velazquez
By Steve Kim (September 7, 2005) Photo © Chris Farina/Top Rank
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Last Tuesday afternoon at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California, Manny Pacquiao - who takes on Hector Velazquez this Saturday night at the Staples Center - would go through 12 vigorous rounds of sparring with the likes of Israel Vazquez, Robert Guerrero and Urbano Antillon.
Unlike his past training camps, the only ones who would be witnessing his work would be fighters, their trainers and managers. This time around, the Wild Card would not be transformed into 'Lil Manila' like it was for his bouts with Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales, when things really got out of control.
Usually, Pacquiao gets to the gym around one in the afternoon, but that day he was late by about a half-hour because he was on a national conference call with reporters. But as the clock struck one, anyone that was not a licensed boxer or a trainer was jettisoned out of the gym.
Rob Peters, an old friend of Roach, who was enlisted by the trainer to act as the defacto security director of this trainer camp, bellows loudly, "IF YOU'RE NOT A LICENSED FIGHTER, YOU NEED TO LEAVE!!!"
Everyone dutifully obeyed his edict as they filed out of the gym in unison.
A half-hour later Pacquiao would saunter into the gym, and after getting his hands wrapped and shadow boxing for a few rounds, he would begin his day of sparring. The action was brisk and often heated. Pacquiao, like he does in fights, is an offensive fighter who can give as much as he takes. On this day it doesn't
really look as if he's working on anything specific but just doing what he does best.
And that's fight in an exciting manner, engaging in back-and-forth action. Vazquez, Guerrero and Antillon all have their moments against the 'Pac Man'. But when the Filipino icon steps it up, he separates himself from his sparring partners.
It's a good day's work, the type of work he didn't get, according to his trainer, for their last outing.
"Definitely," said Roach afterwards. "You can see he had 12 hard rounds today and he's more focused. He has a tendency to play with the younger guys he's sparring and has fun with them, but he's definitely a more focused guy and using his jab a lot more. We still need a little more head movement; he's standing in front of his guy too much. But overall, it's been great."
Back in the early spring, when he was prepping for Morales - who will also appear on Saturday night's card versus Zahir Raheem - it was almost a carnival atmosphere that existed at the Wild Card. That, in addition to his constant distrust of his former promoter, Murad Muhammad, turned Pacquiao into a distracted fighter.
"When you're getting ready to go to battle at that level I think any little distraction is going to bother you," said Roach. "You didn't get your tickets for your wife, he's worried about that. He didn't get the right room. We had too many people in the gym, we weren't really focusing because he was performing for the audience, more or less.
"So there were a lot more distractions and that's why we eliminated all of that. I think he'll go into the fight with a much more sound mind and much more focused."
It's almost eerie to see Pacquiao work in relative anonymity, which is in stark contrast to the throngs of Filipino fans that would wait up to two, three hours waiting at the gym to get a glimpse of their hero in the past. He would always be accommodating to those who wanted his autograph or to take a picture with him. He seemed, in many respects, to feed off of their adulation.
But Pacquiao seems to be enjoying his privacy.
"The training camp is good for me," he said during his conference call. "My trainer, it was his idea to close the camp; I'm enjoying my training."
Roach says that most of his fans have been understanding of their new closed-gym policy.
"The thing is, if they really care about the fighter, they know it's in the best interest of him winning his title back or this fight coming up. If they really want to get mad about it and they want to get upset about it, they're not really Manny Pacquiao fans, I don't think," Roach says. "Because people that care about Manny know that this is the best thing for him."
It's something which his boxer seems to agree with.
"I like that during my training the gym is closed," he said. "Nobody can distract me or bother my training. I like that."
Victories by both Pacquiao and Morales will set up an anticipated rematch of their March slugfest, which was won by 'El Terrible'.
Roach says that in the return bout that his charge would fight in a different manner than he did in their initial match-up.
"He fought the first round the way he should have," says the veteran trainer. "The way we had planned to fight, go to the body. And I think he actually hurt him in the first round with the body attack. But then for some reason he got off cue and we just couldn't get him back on schedule and by the time he got back to the body, it was too late."
Roach is also relieved that Pacquiao is not going into an immediate rematch with Morales. In the past few years it seemed that Pacquiao had faced nothing but fellow pound-for-pound featherweights like Morales, Barrera and Marquez in succession.
"The thing is, the guy (Velazquez) is a tough, durable opponent, goes rounds with a lot of people and that's what we want - to get some rounds out of him and we should beat this guy," admits Roach. "We're not taking him lightly, of course. If we're in 100-percent shape, like we are, we should beat this guy. The thing is, you don't have to fight killer after killer after killer, one, two, three, right in a row. So this will ease him into the training camp for the next fight.
"The big one."
A NEW WORLD
Also getting in a few rounds that day with Pacquiao was a youngster brought out to the West Coast by manager Jackie Kallen named Matt Remillard. Currently, the Manchester, Connecticut native's record stands at 5-0 with four knockouts.
Pacquiao did seem to lay off the gas pedal just a bit with him, but when he did let his hands go, Remillard wasn't afraid to fire back and get his own shots in.
There's not a lot of 'Pac Man's walking around in Connecticut.
"No, not at all," he agreed, with a laugh. "I mean, he's a world champion. I'm thrilled to be here just to help him out. Anything I can do for him, I'll do it. He's the best in the business and I look up to him."
Remillard admits that he did have a case of the nerves.
"Yeah, I got a little tired because I was getting excited," he said. "I was a little nervous about getting in there. I thought he might overwhelm me but I handled it very well and I'm just looking forward to working with him again."
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