24.03.04 – By Joe Rein – Courtesy of Fightworld.us – Applause is not something you hear at the Wild Card Gym, where James Toney, the Klitschko brothers, and Shane Mosley regularly train. But, a Nolan Ryan fastball exploding in a catcher’s mitt gets your attention.
Every blurring salvo that Manny Pacquiao threw at Freddie Roach’s mitts didn’t land…they detonated. You saw a man a shade over 126 pounds; but that sound from the mitts couldn’t come from anybody but Earnie Shavers. For three rounds, Pacquiao’s barrage continued like a battleship pounding shore positions; until the hooks, crosses and uppercuts were a drum solo, and there were no longer beats, just concussion for 30 seconds until the bell sounded.
Fighters and trainers and ringsiders were on there feet applauding. It was watching Barry Bonds hit home runs, Jordan dunk, and Pavarotti hit the high note. At the pace Roach had to work to keep up with Pacquiao’s hand speed; by the time this training camp is over, he’ll be ready for another crack at Bobby Chacon himself.
It really seems improbable that Pacquiao could generate the power that he does throwing so fast; but every punch in the combinations is landed as if he loaded up on each one. So, Marquez will not only have to deal with blazing speed; each punch carries KO power – plus, Pacquiao has quick feet, moving to the left and right, good balance, and a high work rate.
After Roach cooled down from the mitt session, we spoke:
Q: Can you tell what kind of shape – reflex wise – a fighter is in just by how he handles the mitts?
FR: Definitely! I can gauge him easily on the mitts. The mitts are more strategy workouts. I’m going to watch tape of Marquez, and I’m going to emulate things that he’s doing in the ring. You watch a guy, and sometimes they have a bad habit. So, every time you do this, they do that. We’re gonna watch those tapes and pick up on those things, and take advantage of them. So, when Marquez makes a move Manny will know what to do to counter it.
Q: How soon will Manny spar, Freddie?
FR: Right now he’s just building his base up. Justin’s (Fortune) started taking him to the mountains to do roadwork in the morning. We’re doing mitts and bag work, and so forth. We’ll start boxing in about ten days. Manny’s always in, somewhat, shape. They told me he was coming in heavy. He weighed 35… which is great! We’ve got seven weeks before the fight. You need something to build toward. So, he has a little weight to lose, but with the hard work, it will come off, naturally. We have some tapes of Marquez coming in, and we’ll study the tapes a little more, and we’ll be ready on the eighth.
Q: You mentioned earlier, you had a fight plan. What kind of sparring partners will you be bringing in for that plan?
FR: Well, of course, we’ll look for guys like Marquez. We’re going to box with all kinds of different styles. I believe, when you’re sharp, you’re sharp. Just because Marquez fights this way with that guy doesn’t mean he’s going to fight the same way with Manny, of course. There’s certain things he may do over and over that we’ll pick up on. But, styles make fights. So, you never know what to expect. So, we’ll be ready for whatever he brings to the table. If he wants to fight, we’ll fight. If he wants to box, we’ll be ready for that, too. Manny’s a complete fighter. He’ll handle whatever happens in there.
Q: I notice with Toney, he’ll spar with anybody, even if he has no similarity to his opponent. Yet at fight time, he’s ready. Is there something different about the two fighters in your approach to their sparring?
FR: James is a little bit different. He’s not going to change his style for anybody. He’s gonna make you fight his fight. Work is work. Sometimes you don’t get guys that are exactly the same. Marquez has very smart people in his corner. They’re going to come with a whole different strategy. They’re not gonna be the same people we see everyday on the tapes, I’m sure. Whatever style comes to the table, he’s gonna be ready for it. He’s gonna spar with Bernard Dunne, Israel Vasquez, Kahren Harutyunyan, and then, I’m gonna hire a couple of other guys from Mexico. So, when he’s sharp with those guys, he’s sharp with anybody.
Q: How many total rounds of sparring will he do until you think he’s ready?
FR: I’ve never been a believer in counting rounds of sparring. The thing is, every day you have to go with how a fighter feels, how he looks…There’s no set number in my mind. Manny will spar three days a week, on Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s. And, on other days, we’ll do the heavy-bag days, and mitt days. But, he’s not gonna get in shape by sparring; he’s gonna get in shape by his roadwork, his conditioning workouts. Justin Fortune’s great at that. He’ll go to the mountains. He’ll do sprint days. He’ll do hill days…everything’s gonna be covered. The sparring will get his timing down; and once the timing’s there, he’s gonna be tough for anyone in the world to deal with.
Questions or comments, johngarfield@fightworld.us