By Doveed Linder: Before the Pacquiao / Hatton fight, Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach declared that Pacquiao would score a knockout inside of 3 rounds. This was a bold prediction, as Hatton was supposedly the naturally bigger man and he’d only lost once before, which was a TKO in the 10th round that came against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. But Roach spent hours studying tapes of Hatton and was convinced that the plan he was devising for Manny Pacquiao would result in a knockout victory within 3 rounds. And on the night of the fight, his prediction did, in fact, come true, as Hatton wan knocked out in the 2nd round.
Before the fight with Hatton, Pacquiao took on Oscar De La Hoya. Again, Roach predicted exactly how the fight would play out. He maintained that Pacquiao’s speed would make De La Hoya look old and slow and that it would be a one-sided beating that would end inside the distance. And sure enough, Roach painted an accurate picture of what was to come..
It’s not fair to say that any one man is the best trainer in boxing, but there’s no doubt whatsoever that Freddie Roach somewhere at the top. The way Manny Pacquiao has gone from being a one-dimensional slugger to becoming a complete fighter is absolutely remarkable. On top of that, Roach has done wonders to help Amir Khan revive his career and he also helped James Toney get a second wind when he made a comeback around 2003. It’s no wonder that top fighters such as Bernard Hopkins and Oscar De La Hoya have turned to him for help in recent years. The man knows his stuff and he’s an asset to any fighter who wants to compete at an elite level.
Also, it’s to be mentioned that former heavyweight champion Michael Moorer played a significant role in Manny Pacquiao’s preparations for the Hatton fight. Moorer has a lot of experience inside the ring and he’s worked with numerous world class trainers such as Emanuel Steward, Lou Duva, George Benton, Teddy Atlas, and Freddie Roach. He possesses a great deal of boxing knowledge and if he continues working with Freddie Roach as his chief assistant, he could bring some tremendous qualities to a fighter’s camp.
A Word About Floyd Mayweather, Sr.
Ricky Hatton’s trainer Floyd Mayweather, Sr. made some bold predictions of his own before the fight. He spent a lot of time ridiculing Manny Pacquiao and Freddie Roach and implied that Hatton was going to walk all over the pound-for-pound king. He also told the media that he was the greatest trainer in boxing and how he completely transformed Hatton from being a guy with no boxing skills to a fighter with all the goods. And when things didn’t go the way he planned, he openly stated that Hatton should retire.
Based on the way Mayweather went out on a limb by hyping himself as a trainer and talking about all of the new things his fighter was going to do, it seems that his dismissal of Hatton as a fighter was a way to save face and avoid any responsibility for what happened. The appropriate thing to do might have been to stand by his fighter’s side and perhaps show a little more discretion. Mayweather can’t really be blamed as a trainer for what happened any more than Hatton himself can be blamed. They did the best they could and it may be unreasonable to think that a veteran like Hatton can make such dramatic changes in such a short period of time and expect this new technique to hold up in the biggest fight of his life. He got in there with the best fighter in the world, he was caught flush, and that’s how these things go.
Floyd Mayweather, Sr. is a good trainer and he’s good for boxing. He’s a media ham, he’s funny, and he’s a likable person. Without a doubt, he’s a boxing genius and he knows the game inside and out. But it seems that his biggest drawback is that he makes his ego his priority and what prevents him from reaching his potential as a trainer is his belief that he needs to be better than everyone else.