Roach: Pacquiao is about loyalty

CEBU, Philippines —  Walking down memory lane, Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach looks back with pride and a grateful heart to his 20 years together with Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino ring legend he proudly calls his “smartest student” ever.

Roach fondly recalled that his professional bond with Pacquiao that turned into a lasting friendship started to blossom when he served as chief cornerman when Pacquiao fought on US soil for the first time two decades ago.

Then 22 years old, Pacquiao was picked up as a last minute replacement to fight defending IBF super bantamweight champion Lehlohonolo “Hands of Stone” Ledwaba of South Africa, whose original opponent Enrique Sanchez of Mexico pulled out at the eleventh hour reportedly due to injury he sustained during training.

Pacquiao was informed of the surprise world title shot on a very short notice, just two weeks to be exact.

“I was a day away from going home to the Philippines when the fight was offered to me. I was so excited. This was a great opportunity. There was no way I was going to pass it up. Freddie and I worked every day those two weeks until the weigh-in. That is how we started to get to know each other,” Pacquiao recalled in a statement.

Pacquiao, firing power punches on all angles in rapid succession he is best known for, went on to shock the boxing world when he scored a spectacular sixth round stoppage of Ledwaba to clinch his second world crown in different weight division on June 23, 2001 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 “What Manny had going for him when he fought Ledwaba was that he was unknown in the U.S. which gave us the element of surprise,” said Roach. “I don’t remember Sanchez being considered too tough an opponent and I guess Ledwaba trained for that level of opponent.”

“They obviously didn’t do their homework on Manny, which was lucky for us. The important lessons Manny and I learned from that fight were never underestimate your opponent, take nothing for granted, and never cut corners in training. And Manny never has. He gives it everything he has every day of every training camp and respects every opponent who is brave enough to enter a ring,” added the world-renowned  strategist.

  As he refreshed that fantastic moment that became Pacquiao’s launching pad to phenomenal stardom, Roach couldn’t help but marvel at how Pacquiao kept his feet firmly on the ground in the face of overwhelming success he attained.

 “I look back to our first fight together, against IBF junior featherweight champion Lehlo Ledwaba, which took place twenty years ago and just a few weeks after we first met, and I’m still amazed,” shared Roach.

“Fighters fire their trainers in good times and in bad times, it’s part of boxing. And here we are still together -- longer than many marriages last,” added Roach, who masterfully polished Pacquiao to become the only eight-division world champion in boxing history.

For all that they’ve been through - good or bad, Roach cherish all his memories with Pacquiao with so much respect and adulation for the fighting senator.

“Manny is all about loyalty. He’s the greatest fighter I have ever trained.  The smartest student I have ever taught. And a better friend you will never find.  He brings so much joy to boxing and to the world,” Roach heartily said.