Roach & Pacquiao, Getting Ready for Hatton

By Dan Hernandez

“Call back in May, after the fight, if you want to speak with Manny. Keep trying to reach Freddie after 5 PM, maybe you’ll get lucky”

Man who answers telephone at Roach’s Wildcard Boxing Club

Attempting to coordinate an interview with Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach developed into a much more difficult task than expected. Being able to speak with Roach in the past without a hindrance, I expected the same positive reaction. All indications are that he is still the same pleasant fellow I communicated with a few months back, it is just that my timing thus far has been unfortunate. Manny, on the other hand, is focused on the task at hand and is not available to me on a one-to-one basis. Having a contact in the camp I felt confidant that either or both men would call me back, I‘m still waiting. Upon hearing my request the man that answered the phone at The Wild card Boxing Club said, “Call back in May after the fight if you want to speak with Manny. Keep trying to reach Freddie after 5 PM during the week, maybe you’ll get lucky.”
I have not been successful. Fortunately, Roach is so well documented that I was able to gather a few of his quotes pertaining to this fight and have added them to this piece.

Freddie Roach is the owner of the Wildcard Boxing Club in Los Angeles and is at the hub of the most popular trainers in boxing. His prize student at this time is, Manny Pacquiao, who fights Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton on May 2, 2009 for the mythical title of world’s best pound-for-pound boxer. Manny, or “Pac Man” as he is called, is the odds on favorite to maintain his lofty status, attained over the last few years with wins over Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and most recently, and most definitively, the stoppage of the erstwhile “Golden Boy” of boxing, Oscar De La Hoya. Roach is predicting that the fight will end with a Pac Man victory within three rounds and has stated that he would be “very disappointed” if his prediction does not materialize.

Roach has also stated that, “A lot of people ask me if I’m worried about Manny fighting Hatton, since Hatton has never lost a fight at 140 pounds.” Moreover, feeding a long-running feud with opposing trainer Floyd Mayweather has added, “As long as Floyd Mayweather is in Hatton’s corner, I have absolutely no concerns. It’s not like his (Floyd‘s) brother, Roger is training him. Floyd training Hatton for this fight is our biggest advantage.”


This highly anticipated fight sponsored by Tecate, “Cerveza con character” (The beer with character) will pit the “Ring Magazine’s number 1 ranked pound-for-pound champion, Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KO’s) against the IBO World Junior Welterweight champion, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton (45-1, 32 KO’s). The fight is actually for Hatton’s title and will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, televised via HBO Pay-Per-View.

Pacquiao and Roach were recently bestowed the honors of 2008 Fighter of the Year and 2008 Trainer of the Year, respectively by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Upon receipt of the honor Roach said, “It’s always nice to be recognized for doing a good job, I appreciate it. He then added, “We worked hard on making Manny a better fighter, and I think he was last year.”

This is the second Edward J. Neil Award in three years for Pacquiao and Roach became the first three-time recipient of the Futch-Condon Award. If the Pac Man is successful in this bid, he will have gained his fifth world title in five different weight divisions! This feat conjures up memories of the great Henry Armstrong, who, over 70 years ago, was the only fighter in history to have held three world titles at the same time. He held the Featherweight, Welterweight, and Lightweight Championships, in that order, between November 1937, and August 1938. Manny won two titles in 2008, capturing the WBC Super Featherweight belt and the WBC Lightweight championship. Simultaneous championships in different weight divisions are no longer allowed.

Hints of a super fight between unbeaten, and former pound-for-pound title holder, Floyd Mayweather Jr. are bantered about, however, Manny must first hurdle Hatton, whom Mayweather knocked out in a previous encounter and Mayweather must come out of retirement and have at least one or two tune-ups against top contenders, like Hatton, to secure the opportunity to fight Pacquiao.
Roach feels that, “If we win, I don’t have a lot of interest in fighting Mayweather. Even if you beat him, you look bad doing it. Mayweather is very skilled.” He then added, “I don’t like his style, he’s a runner, but is a great boxer.

All the divisions, except the heavyweights are alive and well, as attributed to the outstanding fights that just took place on Saturday April 4, 2009. Librado Andrade did a skillful job on the very capable Vitali Tsypko, in winning a clear-cut decision in the IBF super middleweight title eliminator. In the main event, Timothy Bradley won a hard-fought decision over Kendall Holt, unifying the 140-pound WBC & WBO titles. Bradley overcame a near-disastrous first round knockdown and a 12th round scare to win the points decision handily. In winning, Bradley would love to be put in the mix of Pacquiao, Hatton, and other top rung fighters at this weight division. I am sure that Holt, wanting a re-match, would like to be considered for these upper echelon matches as well. These fights reminded this writer of boxing as it was, before PPV and fighters fighting within their divisions. It was an earnest effort and each fighter fought with enthusiasm, displayed excellent skills, top conditioning, and maintained the tension and drama throughout. All this for the comparative low cost of cable television, congratulations to the participants and Showtime for an excellent production.

If the Pacquiao-Hatton fight can do as well, we are in for an outstanding night of boxing. Both fighters are scrappers with big punches and speed to spare. Roach turned out to be quite a psychic in his assessment of the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight, predicting an 8th or ninth round stoppage. This time he has predicted a third round victory for the Pac Man and has added that Hatton is “not fundamentally sound as a fighter” because of the way his chin stays up. Freddie also feels that regarding Ricky, “He is the perfect opponent for Manny.” Roach was quite confident in adding, “You’re going to hear a lot of glass breaking when Manny starts playing his chin music concerto on Hatton. You’re going to see who has the chops to play this masterpiece on May 2.”