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MANILA, Philippines – Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao rarely says anything bad about his opponents, but his trainer, Freddie Roach, believes the “Pacman” truly dislikes Floyd Mayweather Jr. and that this will play a factor in their May 2 showdown.
Pacquiao and Mayweather are finally facing off on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after half a decade of on-and-off negotiations.
They were mostly respectful during the lone press conference ahead of the bout, but Roach is sure that the Filipino boxer truly doesn’t care for the unbeaten American.
“For the first time in my life, Manny, I get the real strong feeling (he) doesn’t like his opponent,” Roach said in an interview with Boxing Scene.
“He won’t say nothing good or nothing bad,” Roach explained. “He’ll just stay neutral. I’ve never seen him like this before.”
“Sometimes, when we go through the game plan and so forth, he becomes Mayweather in the ring and he gives me the shoulder, the bulls***, you know, and he just laughs it off and he goes away,” he added.
“So I don’t think he really likes him.”
In recent fights, Pacquiao’s ferocity and killer instinct have come into question, especially after his religious conversion. Even Roach acknowledged the “trade-off” that came with Pacquiao’s decision to clean up his life.
“I mean, he made a lot of good decisions in his life when he changed religions, but what we lost a little bit was the killer instinct,” said the trainer.
He saw a bit of that killer instinct return during Pacquiao’s most recent bout, a demolition of Chris Algieri in November 2014 that saw him floor the American six times. Roach is hopeful that Pacquiao will be even fiercer in May.
“I think it’s going to carry over in this fight, and I feel we’ll light this guy up,” said Roach. “Manny knocks out guys that he doesn’t like.”
“That’s how he’s been from Day one. So I’m betting a knockout,” he added.
Photo: Youtube screengrab
This story was republished with permission from ABS-CBNNews.com
