Freddie Roach seems concerned ahead of Manny Pacquiao’s upcoming fight in July.
Pacquiao is set to face Jeff Horn on July 2 in Australia, and his trainer, Roach, believes the fighter is way behind of schedule on his training.
Roach recently flew out from the U.S. to the Philippines to help Pac-Man train for the fight and expressed concern that Pacquiao was only doing five rounds of sparring instead of double that amount.
“I mean, the second day of sparring today is maybe the worst that I’ve seen him spar,” Roach said of Pacquiao a few days ago, via The Philippine Star.
Roach asked Pacquiao how many rounds he wanted to spar, and Pac-Man told him five.
“Five rounds? We’re six weeks out and we should be doing ten by now,” said Roach. “We are way behind.”
Roach could be speaking in such extremes for two reasons. One, talking like that could be a tactic intended to motivate Pacquiao. Two, it could also serve to keep the expectations of the media and fans down.
Pacquiao has been serving in his country’s government as a senator, so he hasn’t been able to dedicate as much time to training as he typically does. He’s also 38, which means some of his skills could be diminishing. Still, he’s expected to beat the 29-year-old Horn, who is 16-0-1 in his career and has never faced anyone close to Pac-Man’s caliber.
