Pacquiao taking a risk, say Wild Card people
By Recah Trinidad
Inquirer
Last updated 03:51am (Mla time) 08/29/2007
LOS ANGELES -- The theater-like set-up at the Cebu training site is perfect for Manny Pacquiao, who loves to play to the crowd, but a top deputy to trainer Freddie Roach says his boss did right in threatening to bolt and come home over a question of crowd control.
Roach on Sunday gave managers at the RWS Gym one last chance to hold back boxing fanatics that have tended to wreck Pacquiao’s regimen.
“Freddie did right, he knows what he’s doing,” boxing teacher Eric Brown told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Tuesday at Wild Card Gym upon learning of Roach’s displeasure.
Brown said he found it ridiculous that Pacquiao took the risk (to train in the Philippines) when it has been proven time and again that Wild Card was perfect for him.
Pacquiao fights Marco Antonio Barrera, whom he stopped in their first meeting in Texas in 2003, on Oct. 6 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.
The mainer of the “Will to Win” card is being drumbeated as the final ring appearance of Barrera, a Mexican boxing icon who has been tipped to come in at his best.
“I’ll slap anybody who says it will be an easy fight for Manny,” Roach told a boxing website last week.
There will always be distractions wherever Pacquiao trains, but another trainer at Wild Card, Tommy Barett, said they could always close the gym door.
He added there will always be the tall, imposing Rob Peterson, a stern security officer, who has always kept Pacquiao fans in their proper place inside Roach’s famous gym here.
Ola Afolabi, who moved out from London to work with Roach here, agreed that Pacquiao could not afford to take it easy.
He was wondering why the Pacman suddenly left after having checked in for training at Wild Card last Aug. 7. He also frowned on Pacquiao playing basketball when the big fight is just around the corner.
“Maybe Manny wanted to take it easy out there,” he said.
