"Manny's going to have to get a little physical in there with him of course and use his strength and speed and use it technically. The thing is when his earmuffs are on, with that passive defense like that, there's not a lot of power punches coming back on the counter end of it. There is some activity, but the thing is if he does that too much, I think we're going to get him out in 12 easily, but he's definitely a tough guy to knockout though. That's our goal, to knock him out and be one of the first ones to do that," stated world-renowned trainer Freddie Roach as he broke down Manny Pacquiao's new opponent, Joshua Clottey, and their upcoming clash on March 13th. A guest of the OnTheGrind Boxing radio show, Roach shared his final thoughts on the failed negotiations for the megafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. before looking forward to the title defense against Clottey. Check out what he had to say about the change in sparring partners, the possibility of facing Mayweather or the winner of Mosley vs. Berto in the future and much more.
On his selection of Clottey as Pacquiao's next opponent...
"I talked to Bob and Bob started asking about Clottey. I said, 'Give me a day to think about it. Let me think about his style.' It's an action fight. It's a hard fight of course because he's a true welterweight and a big, strong kid, so Pacquiao is going to have to really fight smart with his speed. And it's an action fight. I thought it was better than the Yuri Foreman fight. We could have went after Foreman for the 8th world title, but Foreman's kind of a lackluster guy who can spoil and make you look bad, so I thought this was a better action fight for the fans so this is the one we chose."
"They offered us Paulie Malignaggi, but who wants to see that, you know? I mean, geez, Ricky Hatton crushed him and Manny crushed Ricky Hatton, so people don't want to see that fight. Paulie's a good action fighter, but he's not in that class. Now we're fighting a big, strong guy who a lot of people thought beat Cotto in the last fight and he deserves a shot, so it's going to be a very good fight."
On the Clottey fight itself...
"To be honest with you, it looks like a great venue and it's going to be a huge crowd. Unfortunately, it won't be the pound-for-pound kings going against each other. You know, me and Manny were both looking forward to getting ready for that fight and coming up with a gameplan to beat Mayweather; hopefully that will happen down the line some day, but right now, we'll have Clottey in front of us, so it seems, and again, he's a tough guy and a difficult opponent, strong and a true welterweight. Manny's still a small welterweight, you know, he walks around at 153; we have to put weight on when we get in training camp with protein shakes and five meals a day, but it will be very competitive and it will be all-action. You know, a fight that the fans will love."
"We have to box this guy, in-and-out, side-to-side motion, and really, really be very tactical because he's a very strong and big puncher and has a good chin of course. Again, it's not an easy fight, but it's a fight that we want to fight because it's a fight that the fans will enjoy and that's what we want. We want to put on a good shows and keep doing that and keep Manny Pacquiao's number one ranking alive."
"It will be at 147. There's no catchweight."
"Manny's comfortable at the weight [147 pounds]. Making 135 was a bit of a struggle, making 140, we can make 140 with ease, but he likes the extra strength, he likes eating the day of the weigh-in. When Manny's eating the day of the weigh-in and gets to eat twice before the weigh-in, he's happy and that's when he peforms at his best, when he's smiling and in a good mood. He's not in an angry mood because he's starving himself. Making weight is a little bit overrated I think and Manny Pacquiao is proof. He's fighting at a weight he's comfortable at. He'll come into this fight like 144-145 and he'll go into the ring at 148 or 149 at most and that's his best fighting weight."
On the gameplan for Clottey...
"He has a passive defense, by putting his earmuffs on and so forth. He opens the body up when he does that of course. There's certain ways we can break that defense and break him down of course. Manny's going to have to get a little physical in there with him of course and use his strength and speed and use it technically. The thing is when his earmuffs are on, with that passive defense like that, there's not a lot of power punches coming back on the counter end of it. There is some activity, but the thing is if he does that too much, I think we're going to get him out in 12 easily, but he's definitely a tough guy to knockout though. That's our goal, to knock him out and be one of the first ones to do that. I think if we break him down to the body, we can definitely expose the head if we go to the body early in the fight."
On sparring partners for the Clottey fight...
"Big, strong guys, you know? 154 and 160-pounders. I got a couple guys picked out already. I got Roberto Garcia on hold in the gym right now. Roberto campaigns at 54, but he's at 160 right now; a very strong guy. I also have Amir Khan coming in for speed work, which works for Mayweather, but, you know, speed work is always great for timing and so forth, so he's in with Amir also. There's a 160-pounder who came in, 160-pound world champion from the Ukraine came in yesterday and I'm going to look at him tomorrow and they want me to train him also. And of course Felix Sturm and I just struck a deal. Felix is a 160-pounder who's going to come in. He's not that Clottey type of fighter so much, but he's a very clever boxer and I think when you're sharp with guys like that, you're sharp with anybody so I got some really good guys."
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