Coach Freddie Roach: "My Dream For Manny Pacquiao Is Hatton at 140"

Manny Pacquiao could have done better. In the end, that’s the bottom line for Freddie Roach.

That’s the way the veteran trainer looked at his fighter’s razor-thin margin of victory over Juan Manuel Marquez two weeks ago. His fighter won a perilously close decision but he could have fought better, which has led Roach to think of only one thing since.

“We want to fight him again,’’ Roach said flatly this week.

Having seen your fighter twice barely escape defeat at the hands of Marquez, most trainers would be moving as far away from the man as possible and staying there for as long as possible. That is the business side of the sport. It’s also exactly why Roach says he wants Pacquiao to meet Marquez again soon.

“Pacquiao and Marquez will meet again and it won’t take four years this time,’’ boxing’s finest young trainer said from his Wild Card Gym in Hollywood during a long conversation about that fight, Pacquiao’s future and the way Roach looks at the sport that has been his life since he was a young boy trying to master a sometimes brutal art form in gyms around New England.

“People criticized us for giving him a rematch because his style makes life difficult for Manny. A lot of people asked me why I wasn’t satisfied with a draw (which is how their first fight ended). I don’t like controversy. I like to win. We looked at that draw like a loss.

“Now they’re asking me why we’re not satisfied with a win. It was too close. A lot of people think Marquez won and rightfully so. It was very close (one point on one card making the difference). It could have gone either way. There’s controversy. I still don’t like controversy.

“If those guys fought 10 times in a row there would be one point between them either way. They’re both such good fighters and they come in such great shape because they know what the other guy’s capable of.

“But Manny is my baby. I want to see him improve. I want to see him fight the best he can and I know he didn’t do that. We made some tactical errors in that fight. Manny moved into his right hand all night. That was something we worked on not doing all camp and we ended up doing it all night. I don’t know if Marquez made that possible or Manny couldn’t see it but I know it’s correctable.

“I thought Manny won by a little bit but a lot of the rounds were hard to score. Marquez deserves the rematch. He’s a great fighter. He had something to do with our problems, which is why we want the rematch. It will be good for boxing.’’

Roach quickly followed that thought up by making clear that Pacquiao had fought his last at 130 pounds however. He will, as expected, move up to 135 to challenge lightweight champion David Diaz later this year, probably in June if the cuts he suffered heal properly, and Roach has his own dream fight in mind for Pacquiao after that doesn’t involve Juan Manuel Marquez. It’s a fight he knows isn’t likely to happen but he can hope, can’t he?

“My dream fight for Manny is with Ricky Hatton at 140,’’ Roach said. “That would be a great fight for Manny. Hatton’s not that big a guy and with their styles it would be all action but Golden Boy (Oscar De La Hoya’s promotional company, which has signed Hatton) already told me they’re going in a different direction with Hatton.

“They told me not to even think about it but if Manny wins the title at 135 it would make a fight with Hatton at 140 legitimate. Boxing purists love Juan Manuel Marquez because he’s so technically sound. Hatton-Pacquiao would be more of a brawl but fans would love it. It would just be for that one fight. We certainly wouldn’t stay at 140, that’s for sure.’’

Instead they would return to the lightweight division and possibly even down to a catch weight of 133, where they know Juan Manuel Marquez will be waiting. More than likely, he won’t have to wait for long.

Although Marquez’s advisors have already begun to lobby for a rubber match, Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, has said a third fight needs to “bake’’ for a while and has told journalists in the Phillipines Pacquiao would have to get between $8-to-$10 million to make the fight.

Considering that he got $5 million for the second fight (to $1.5 million for Marquez) it is a number that seems a bit steep but Roach isn’t concerning himself with such matters. That’s up to Arum and Golden Boy, who represent the two sides, but one thing is for sure. That third fight will happen.

“They’ll negotiate it out,’’ Roach said. “Arum’s got to be realistic. It’s a fight me and Manny want. Nobody likes controversy. We want to settle this. I know Manny can fight a better fight. I don’t think Marquez can.

“The two of them are so competitive I can really put my foot down with Manny and show him why it was so close. It’s so simple to make adjustments but maybe it’s not now that I think about it because Marquez had a lot to do with Manny’s problems.

“People kept asking me why we didn’t land the right hand more when we worked on it for so long but Marquez kept throwing lead right hands. By not using his jab so much he took our right hand away. He really does know how to fight. He’s a dream come true for a boxing purist.

“He’s intense. He’s tactical. He’s sound. He never gets rattled. You have to admire him. When Manny put him down I didn’t think he was going to get up but he did. Manny hurt him two more times in the fight but we couldn’t get him out and the cuts he had didn’t bother him at all even though they had a lot of trouble closing them. When Manny gets cut he doesn’t handle it so well. Luckily (cut man) Joe Chavez got it under control and we had a plastic surgeon stitch it up real nice so it shouldn’t bother him in the future.’’

What will bother both him and Roach is living with the questions fans and boxing insiders have over the outcome of both fights. The draw came despite Pacquiao dropping Marquez three times and more than a few people felt Marquez had actually fought his way back to victory despite a disastrous first round.

Pacquiao’s win in the rematch came by the smallest margin possible, one point on one judge’s card, or it too would have been a draw on a night where, again, many left the arena feeling Marquez had come out on the wrong end of the decision.

There is only one way to settle this of course and Roach is hoping it will happen soon, although nothing can happen until Pacquiao faces Diaz, a hard-nosed southpaw Roach feels will present them some difficulties. Not like the ones Marquez poses but problems all the same, problems that will have to be solved.

“Manny doesn’t like to fight southpaws,’’ Roach said, “but when we fight a guy who’s hittable Manny does well. People tell me David Diaz is an easy fight. I say he’s a world champion. The last time I looked they didn’t give those belts away.

“It will be a tough fight. He’s aggressive. He’s tough. He comes to win. And we don’t know yet how moving up in weight will affect Manny. It was a little bit difficult for him making 130. He struggled but not tremendously so we have to look good at 135 and then see what’s next.’’

One possibility has been talk emanating from De La Hoya’s camp that boxing’s Golden Boy would dearly love to finish his career against Pacquiao. Roach laughs at the suggestion because of the obvious size difference, although he knows he can’t totally dismiss it.

“That’s a pretty big jump (from 130 to 147),’’ Roach said. “I guess De La Hoya and Manny don’t like each other but I don’t know. I think it’s more likely we go to 140 if we can get Hatton and then back to 135. What we want is to win the lightweight title and then fight Marquez again but he’ll have to come up to 135, or at least a catch weight of 133. One thing we know about that fight, it will be competitive.’’

Which, frankly, is how Freddie Roach likes it.

“I get jacked up for fights like the one with Marquez,’’ Roach said. “We all like the competition. When the bell rings we trainers go sit down but the strategy of it is important to us.

“I’m a competitive person. Nacho Beristain (Marquez’s trainer) is one of the great trainers in boxing. If we can make adjustments to negate their guy’s strategy that makes us get excited. I enjoy that.

“The only thing that bothered me about the last fight really was what they said after they lost. If we’d have lost that fight I wouldn’t have cried about the decision. I know that’s easy to say because we won but when the fight’s that close you can’t cry about losing by a point. It takes away from it. That fight was great for Manny and for Marquez and it was great for boxing. We were all winners.’’

Close winners in the case of Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao. So close they want to do it again. Soon. Unless, of course, Ricky Hatton calls first.

By Ron Borges, The Sweet Science

Who's next for Pacquiao?

Finally Pacquiao did it again, who's next for Manny Pacquiao? Hatton is next according to Coach Freddie Roach.

The Filipino star will remain at junior lightweight and challenge beltholder Juan Manuel Marquez for the 130-pound world title March 15 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay, Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank announced Thursday.

Manny Pacquiao, left, and Juan Manuel Marquez are set to do it again March 15 in Las Vegas.
"This is the one everybody wanted to see," Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said.

The bout, which will be televised by HBO PPV, is a much-anticipated rematch of their dramatic May 8, 2004 brawl. Pacquiao (45-3-2, 34 KOs) knocked Marquez (48-3-1, 35 KOs) down three times in the first round of the featherweight championship fight, but Marquez battled back and the slugfest was ruled a split draw.

Pacquiao, the star of the division, easily outpointed Marco Antonio Barrera in a rematch Oct. 6 and was considering either the Marquez rematch or moving up to challenge lightweight titlist David Diaz.

Ultimately, he decided to take the Marquez fight.

"Manny is going to knock him out," Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said. "Manny feels that he has really improved dramatically since that first fight with Marquez and that Marquez has gone backwards."

Diaz will defend his 135-pound belt on the undercard, Arum told ESPN.com. He said that if Diaz and Pacquiao both win, he would match them in July. A win by Pacquiao in July could lead to the ultimate showdown in September: A welterweight mega fight against Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya in De La Hoya's career finale.

Arum said a news conference to bring Pacquiao and Marquez face to face was being scheduled for Dec. 20 in Los Angeles. Arum added that Pacquiao would remain in the U.S. after the press conference and begin training in Los Angeles in early January.

"Marquez-Pacquiao II will be one of those 'must-see' fights for boxing fans," HBO PPV's Mark Taffet said. "Kudos to the promoters and fighters for continuing to make the fights that boxing fans want to see and for continuing the sport's momentum well into 2008."

Pacquiao was supposed to meet with Arum at his Las Vegas home on Thanksgiving to discuss the options and then make a decision. However, Pacquiao didn't make it to Las Vegas and they ended up meeting a few days later in Los Angeles, where Arum laid out the scenarios for him.

"I really left it up to Manny," Arum said, noting that trainer Freddie Roach was on board with either Marquez or Diaz. "[At first] the money wasn't quite right on our side for Marquez as it was against Diaz. But then Schaefer really went to work and did a really great job with Marquez, and that enabled me to tell Manny that it was going to be virtually the same money for him to fight Marquez as it would be to fight Diaz with an upside on a Marquez fight that could be larger, because it would be trumpeted as a bigger fight."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Schaefer said that Marquez wanted the fight badly and took the short end to get it done.

"The credit really goes to Marquez because he really, really wanted this fight," Schaefer said. "He knows there is unfinished business between them. Manny, he wanted to fight the guy he could make the most money against. But Juan Manuel Marquez really did his part to make this fight. He agreed to accept the terms which really are heavily in favor of Pacquiao.

"For Marquez, this was not about money, no question about it," Schaefer said. "It was about him standing up there and showing all the Mexicans that, 'Hey, you know that this guy [Pacquiao] beat two legends, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, but now I'm going to show Pacquiao what Mexican fighters are all about.' That is what motivates him. He knows with a victory over Pacquiao that his name will be considered right there with Morales and Barrera."

Pacquiao has defeated six Mexican fighters in a row, including Morales twice and Barrera, whom he sent into retirement last month. Diaz sent Morales into retirement in August.

Marquez, who defeated Barrera in March to win his belt, routed Rocky Juarez for a unanimous decision in his first defense Nov. 3.

Arum credited Schaefer for structuring a deal for Marquez that made the fight possible.

"He worked it out very cleverly with Marquez," Arum said of his one-time bitter rival. "He did a very good job. I commend him, otherwise the fight wouldn't happen."

After Schaefer and Arum closed the financial gap, Pacquiao had to decide on the weight. Marquez wanted the fight so badly that he was willing to fight a nontitle bout between 131 and 135 pounds.

Pacquiao struggled to make 130 pounds for the Barrera fight, but part of the reason for that was because he did most of his training in the Philippines before traveling the United States and had problems taking off the last couple pounds.

"I asked Manny, 'Do you really have trouble making 130?' He said no and that he would train here in the U.S. and that he wouldn't have trouble making it," Arum said. "So I said, 'Why don't you fight at 130 for the title?' He said he didn't want to pay the [WBC] sanction fee. I said, 'Twenty years from now when they talk about you beating every 130-pounder out there, wouldn't it be nice if you were 130-pound champion?' He agreed and will fight for the WBC title."

Although Marquez holds the WBC belt, the match will also be for the vacant Ring magazine title, which, in an era of four main organizations, recognizes the "real" champion in each division and doesn't require any sanctioning fees.

If Pacquiao defeats Marquez and then Diaz in July, the fight with De La Hoya, who says he will fight in May and then his career finale in September, is a serious possibility.

Arum said part of his discussions with Schaefer while making Marquez-Pacquiao II included talk about an eventual fight with De La Hoya.

"We all know it's a huge fight," Arum said.

Schaefer confirmed that they've discussed the match.

"That's certainly a possibility," Schaefer said. "Bob and me did discuss it. He's discussed it with Manny and I have discussed it with Oscar. At first they were both laughing but each guy said [of the other], 'Is he serious?' Then they stopped laughing when they found out that the other guy was serious. Both guys are open to it."

But first things first: Marquez-Pacquiao II.