MANILA, Philippines - In the eyes of his head trainer, Manny Pacquiao was way off the mark when he sparred five rounds at the Elorde Gym at the Mall of Asia grounds yesterday.
“His timing and distance is really, really off because he hasn’t done this in a long time,” Freddie Roach told reporters after the two-hour training session.
Roach arrived from the United States with strength coach Justin Fortune last Sunday. From hereon, the American boxing guru will call the shots.
They did a dozen rounds with the mitts last Monday. But what Roach saw that day was far different from what he saw when Pacquiao sparred against two Filipino boxers, including Leonardo Doronio.
Pacquiao marked Day 1 of sparring last Saturday as he moved just six weeks to his July 2 WBO welterweight title clash with Australian Jeff Horn in Brisbane.
“I mean, the second day of sparring today is maybe the worst that I’ve seen him spar,” said Roach, who shook his head when he asked Pacquiao how many rounds did he want to spar yesterday.
Pacquiao said “five.”
“Five rounds? We’re six weeks out and we should be doing ten by now,” said Roach.
“We are way behind,” added Roach, who will have to push Pacquiao a little harder than before just to make sure the reigning world champion willl be in tip-top shape for the fight.
Pacquiao hasn’t fought since he dislodged American Jessie Vargas as the champion at 147 pounds last November.
Roach saw the rust yesterday in sparring.
“In boxing, if you do it a lot it will stay with you. But if you don’t, it takes time to get it back. But we’ll get it back. No problem. We just have to do it every other day and he’s go to push himself harder,” said Roach.
The American trainer didn’t bring along any sparring partner but said he was expecting one or two to fly in from the US this week or next or just before Pacquiao moves his training camp to General Santos City.
Horn, according to Roach, is an “aggressive” fighter, and at 29 is nine years younger than the fighting senator from the Philippines.
“May bilis din naman (He’s also fast) pero mas mabilis tayo (But we’re faster),” said Pacquiao.
During the long layoff, Pacquiao kept himself busy with legislative duties and tried to stay in shape playing basketball seven days a week.
“He said he’s been playing basketball,” said Roach. “But this ain’t f****** basketball. This ain’t fun,” he said.
The STAR asked Roach, “What if the (Horn) fight were held tomorrow?”
“I’d postpone it,” Roach said.