Pacquiao and Roach: Bonded through Triumph and Turmoil

Brady-Belichick. Manning-Dungy. Jordan-Jackson. Bryant-Jackson. Shaq-Jackson. Duncan-Popovich. Jeter-Torre. By and large, those are the most successful and most celebrated player-coach relationships of recent vintage, partnerships between pupil and teacher that became personal bonds - if not a true “friendship” in the traditional sense of the word (i.e. Kobe-Phil), an intense professional symbiosis for which there is no concrete term.

Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach have leapt to the head of this class, forging one of the most notable tandems in recent boxing history. When Coach Roach first got his hands on Manny in 2001, the Filipino southpaw was a one-handed brawler. With abundant raw talent and natural athleticism, he nevertheless was about as far away from being an all-around boxer as you can get.

Now look at him. Roach has made his right hand a viable weapon, increased his overall punch arsenal, improved his balance and footwork and on the whole turned him into a versatile virtuoso. Defensively, his improvement is astonishing. In his last three fights, he's hardly been hit. He’s evolved into head-bobbing, lightning-fast, two-fisted dynamo, and Roach deserves a great deal of the credit for turning Manny into a total package as a fighter. Likey, Pacquiao would have matured no matter who was training him. But it’s unlikely he would have come this far as a fighter without a trainer of Roach's caliber.

Of course, it’s not all peaches and cream. New word out of Pac camp is that after being encouraged by a fast start, Roach is now unhappy with the way Manny has been training. He's crticizing Pacquiao's basketball obsession and generally taking him to task for focusing too much of his energy away from the task at hand. Roach has never been shy about being critical of Manny – he has reprimanded his trainee before for the same type of lackadaisical behavior during camp.

But that’s part of the whole equation of their relationship. Phil Jackson has had clashes with all of his superstars, but in the end those battles only strengthened their alliances. That is the ultimate test of any true bond at this level of stardom, to be able to be real with one another beyond the sychophancy of super-celebrity. If Freddie weren’t willing to get Manny in check and Manny weren’t able to accept it, this article would not exist. There would be no center to their union, it would be a false connection and it would eventually break.

For some reason, their partnership seems more pronounced than ever now as they head towards the Cotto fight. Cotto may be the most dangerous opponent Pacquiao has ever stepped into the ring with. He's a big welterweight and a great fighter in the prime of his career. Even if he is not the same man that he was before the Margarito fight, he is still more of a threat than the old and weight-drained Oscar Manny fought in his only welterweight fight last December. If Pacquiao wins, it could be considered the greatest ring triumph of his career. He is already a legend, but without question this would confirm his greatness to those who still aren’t convinced of it. The ones who dismiss the De la Hoya fight, and thus don’t believe the hype that tells us Manny is Superman. And of course, if it's a greatness-defining achievement for Pacquiao, it will be the same for Roach, as they are increasingly one and the same entity in the public eye.

Source: http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Rumble/entry/view/37767/pacquiao_and_roach_bonded_through_triumph_and_turmoil