Thursday, February 21, 2008 Roach: Marquez will stay down
A FOCUSED Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will be fighting smart and will be eying for a knockout victory against his nemesis, the World Boxing Council super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez on March 16 (RP time).
Trainer Freddie Roach’s strategy is for Pacquiao to go for the knockout and he thinks this time Marquez will stay down for good.
Last time Pacquiao sent Marquez to the canvas three times in the first round but the Mexican warrior counterpunched his way to salvage a draw.
“We are going for the knockout. We have all intentions of knocking him out. After Manny’s last two fights, we need to fight a great fight. We are moving up in weight and going for those titles after this fight,” Roach told boxingtalk.com.
He added, “Manny is a more balanced fighter right now. We had great success in the early rounds in our last fight, then Marquez came back. But now, Manny knows how to adjust better. If Manny gets Marquez down this time, he’ll keep him down.”
With issues of Pacquiao’s weight being 10 pounds over the super featherweight limit, Roach believes that the weight issue is not a problem because he has a good diet and is running laps and has good discipline.
With four weeks to go before “Unfinished Business,” Pacquiao is training hard, running laps and sparring with three different partners. He has sparred nine rounds last Saturday and Roach will be bringing in a boxer who mimics the style of the Mexican champion. (EKA)
