MANILA, Philippines – With less than 6 weeks to go from Manny Pacquiao’s third ring encounter against Timothy Bradley Jr on April 10 (April 9 in US), Freddie Roach isn't impressed with his pupil’s performance as they continue to prepare in the Filipino boxer’s hometown of General Santos City.
"Not so good, but not bad either," Roach said in an interview with PhilBoxing.com.
Roach, who has been Pacquiao’s boxing coach since his title-winning performance against Lehlo Ledwaba for the IBF super bantamweight belt in June 2001, revealed that he has having difficulties setting a higher frequency of intensity in sparring as Pacquiao missed two days of training due to an eye injury.
Pacquiao hurt his left eye in his first sparring session with Canada-based Congolese fighter Ghislain Maduma, compelling Roach to shelf boxing’s only 8-division world champion for two days.
“We have a little bit of catching up to do in this coming week, particularly in the sparring aspect of our program,” Roach stated.
Roach stressed that Pacquiao had a tough time in sparring with Maduma on Thursday, February 25 as his left eye limited him in setting his pace.
"It's really frustrating because I saw Manny really trying to step up but couldn't," he shared. "At least Maduma gave Manny an opportunity to display his capability to cut the ring in Maduma's effort to evade his attacks which we expect Bradley to do come fight night.”
Pacquiao resumed his intense workout on Monday, February 29 as he spent several rounds on the punch mitts with Roach and the double-end bag.
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Both Pacquiao and Roach are set to leave the Philippines on or before March 15 to wrap up training camp at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, California. – Rappler.com