LOS ANGELES – Manny Pacquiao is ready to rumble while Floyd Mayweather is set to take a tumble.
That’s the belief of Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame cornerman Freddie Roach, who told mediamen early Friday night that the Filipino star has reached his peak.
“Everything is coming into play,” Roach said when pressed about the condition Pacquiao is in a little over a week before meeting Mayweather at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I don’t think he’s going to get better (anymore),” stressed Roach, noting that Pacquiao is now at 100 percent and that the remaining days will be devoted to keeping him in shape.
Pacquiao will spar for the penultimate time Saturday and will have his last taste of sparring on Monday, just before the entire team travels to Sin City.
Roach thinks they have all the bases covered and that everything points to a resounding victory on May 2.
“His power is unbelievable and his feet is unbelievable. We have the better puncher and the faster puncher (in Pacquiao),” said Roach, who sent his elder brother Alan in New York on Friday to pick up his seventh Trainer of the Year from the Boxing Writers Association of America.
The BWAA’s acknowledgement of his success is due largely to Pacquiao’s meteoric rise and Roach could not help but flash a grin when his No. 1 fighter made the assurance that he will win his eighth next year.
“Manny told me I will win my eight (award) next year because he will be knocking Mayweather out,” he said.
Pacquiao is not known to boast and talk trash during interviews and most of the peppery quotes are drawn when there is no tape recorder that is shoved in front of him.
So when Roach personally heard it straight from Pacquiao’s mouth, he was almost delirious with excitement knowing it was a sign that he won’t settle for an ordinary win.
“I like it when he says that…and it shows how much this fight means to him.”
Still, Roach is never sure of what’s going through Mayweather’s mind and the first round would provide a sneak-peek into how the fight will unfold.
“The first round should tell everything if it’s a boring fight or not.”