Freddie Roach, the coach of the former world champion in eight weight categories Manny Pacquiao, claims that his ward sends his sparring partners to the canvas during the preparation for the fight with the owner of the WBC and IBF welterweight titles Errol Spence Jr, with whom the 42-year-old Filipino will fight on August 21.
“We agreed to fight with Spence because we consider Errol one of the best. I’ve been talking to Manny for years, and he always said that he wants to be the best at what he does. There is no point in entering the ring with a popular, but not so good fighter. We want to fight with the best. I congratulated Manny when he decided to fight Spence.
A little downtime can affect a guy like Manny in different ways. But the main thing is that he has been training all this time. He showed me everything he did in the Philippines, and I just made small adjustments. When Pacquiao arrived in the United States, he was already ready to fight.
The other day he had probably his best sparring. Manny played ten rounds and scored two knockdowns. It was the same Manny Pacquiao as ten years ago. In the welterweight division, he is not as powerful a puncher as usual, but these knockdowns were a great boost for him,” said Freddie Roach.