The three-time Trainer of the Year had just wrapped up Pacquiao’s final day of sparring at his Wild Card Gym, and was busy giving away his signatures when Pinoy scribes got a hold of him.
He was asked how the last day of sparring went, and it was the typical answer from the typical Roach.
“It was nice and loose. A good day of sparring,” said the 49-year-old fighter now considered as the hottest trainer in the sport today.
Roach said they’ve covered all the bases in nearly eight weeks of training that there’s really nothing more to do except go over their gameplan, just four days before the fight with Puerto Rican champion Miguel Cotto.
“Manny already knows the gameplan better than me at this point. And he’s one step ahead of me at all times,” said Roach, just getting ready for the trip to Las Vegas on board his silver Mercedes.
He said he’d gotten tired of driving himself, and for this trip he gave the keys of his elegant sedan to Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza.
Roach said all he’s asking from Pacquiao is a perfect fight.
“I’m really happy. We’re ready to go. We just need to make sure everyone’s in the same page, and then fight the perfect fight,” he said.
A perfect fight could mean an early end to the fight, set at the MGM Grand, and probably as perfect as the one they had six months ago, when Pacquiao needed no more than six minutes to get rid of Ricky Hatton.
Roach said Pacquiao had tapered off the last few days in LA, and here in Vegas it’ll be just going through the motion.
“We slowed down here and we’ll slow down in Vegas. Today was the last day of sparring of course. We’ll just do some mitts and go over the gameplan mentally, and just physically walk through it in the ring,” said the chief trainer of the world’s greatest boxer today.
He said he’s done watching Cotto’s recent fights on tape, that it’s time to be there up on the ring for the fight itself.
“I’ve watched Cotto f_____g everyday,” he said. But it’s never together with Pacquiao when he plays those tapes.
“Manny doesn’t want to watch tapes that much. He gets bored after 30 seconds,” he said.
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