No need for Pacquiao to put on weight – Roach

LOS ANGELES – Freddie Roach’s marching order to Manny Pacquiao when it comes to weight management is simple: Just eat normally.

After all, Roach said Pacquiao does not need to add a few extra pounds heading into his fight with WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas next week.

“I just like to see him (Pacquiao) just eat normally. Just go in there in his natural weight and use his feet,” Roach told Filipino scribes after another day of training at the Wild Card Gym here in Hollywood.

Pacquiao normally weighs around 140 pounds, well below the welterweight limit of 147 pounds, and Roach said his prized ward is exactly where he wants him to be.

The other day at his Los Angeles home, the Filipino icon told scribes at breakfast that he had to eat at least five times a day just to maintain his fighting weight.

And once he clears the scales at the official weigh-in a day before the fight, Pacquiao is not expected to gain too many pounds.

“Do I want him to come in heavy? No, not at all,” said Roach, saying Pacquiao will move much better without the excess poundage.

Pacquiao’s longtime trainer added that he sees Vargas as the version of Oscar Dela Hoya that fought Pacquiao in 2008.

Everyone knows how Pacquiao bounced around and dominated the Golden Boy that night, forcing him to quit on his stool after the eighth round, never to fight again.

If he takes care of Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 5 (Nov. 6 in Manila), Pacquiao will most likely stay at welterweight.