MACAU – Freddie Roach has a bit of a problem.
He admits to have some difficulty trying to stop Manny Pacquiao from working hard even as the fight with unbeaten US fighter Chris Algieri is drawing to a close.
“I have to tell him to slow down,” said Roach on Wednesday just before presiding over Pacquiao’s penultimate workout in a gym located in the bowels of The Venetian.
Despite all these concerns, Roach remains positive everything is going to turn out right on Sunday at the Cotai Arena.
“We’re going to take him (Algieri) out,” said Roach, who grinned when a handful of Manila-based scribes told him they had just gone to Algieri’s training session.
Roach said Algieri’s trainers practice weird techniques like using sticks that look like rolling pins in the mitts work.
“It’s funny because the hand-to-eye coordination works for the trainer, and not for the fighter,” said Roach, who began calling the shots in Pacquiao’s corner since mid-2001.
Roach is likewise optimistic that Pacquiao will score his 39th knockout victory in over 60 fights, putting an abrupt end to five years of winning fights on points.
The last time Pacquiao scored a stoppage win was against Miguel Cotto in 2009 and was pushed to the limit by Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez (third fight), Brandon Rios and Tim Bradley and got knocked out by Marquez in their fourth fight.
On Sunday, Roach expects to see Pacquiao regain his winning ways via knockout.