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Celebrated boxing trainer Freddie Roach wants to make sure nothing is irregular with the gloves to be used by Floyd Mayweather Jr. for his bout against Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas.
Mayweather and Pacquiao are allowed to use whatever gloves they choose, and the American opted to choose Grant gloves while the “Pacman” will use Reyes gloves.
“Grant is doing his gloves, and they’re all custom-made,” Roach told MLive.com. “I’d like to know what he’s using – like what he’s putting in those gloves, and what materials they’re made with.”
Roach will get to inspect the gloves on Friday night at the MGM Grand.
“I’m a little bit worried about the weight of the gloves, and the padding, because I know that Floyd has a little bit of fragile hands,” the trainer explained. “It’s something that runs in the family.”
“I think that they all can punch really well, but they have small hands. I’m a little concerned about the custom-made gloves that Floyd’s going to wear,” Roach added.
The American boxer has had issues about the gloves his opponents used in the past.
Mayweather’s May 2014 fight against Marcos Maidana was nearly scuttled due to a disagreement regarding the gloves used by the Argentine fighter. Mayweather claimed that Maidana’s custom-made Everlast MX gloves were insufficiently padded and threatened to cancel the fight if the Argentine didn’t change his gloves.
Maidana grudgingly did as he was asked and lost a competitive majority decision to Mayweather.
Pacquiao, for his part, will use Reyes-gloves that are “made by machine in Mexico,” said Roach.
“They’re the same all the time. They’re very standard. Top Rank has a warehouse full of them. They’ll grab 10 pairs, and we’ll pick our gloves from one of the ten,” he explained.
This story was republished with permission from ABS-CBNnews.com.
