Pacquiao trainer Roach dismayed over Baguio training camp

Freddie Roach was straight to the point.

In his view, in the close to 10 years that he’s been training Manny Pacquiao for a fight, this one, against the biggest opponent the Filipino ring icon faces in his 15-year boxing career, has been the worst training camp they ever had.

While the four-time Trainer of the Year has tried to be discreet before, Roach voiced out his sentiments this time, saying that too many distractions impaired Pacquiao’s preparations for his November 13 title showdown against Mexican Antonio Margarito.

“The thing is, overall, I think it’s the worst training camp we ever had, yes," Roach said in an interview with Max Boxing, enumerating the distractions that hounded their training camp, from Pacquiao’s six-hour drives to Manila from Baguio during weekends, the hours spent practicing songs for his post-fight party in Texas, the nightly basketball, and his travel to San Diego for a charity event less than 24 hours after arriving in Los Angeles.

“The thing is, it was just too many distractions," Roach disclosed. “When Manny Pacquiao trains, nobody trains better. So, really, we didn’t have a bad training camp. He just wasn’t very consistent."

And so the 50-year-old trainer expressed how pleased he is to be back in the confines of his Wild Card gym, where he said he’ll try in the remaining two weeks to whip the 31-year-old Filipino southpaw into the best shape against the 5-foot-11 Mexican from Tijuana.

“We’re within striking distance, and these two weeks are going to help us a lot," he added.

In his first training day in Los Angeles, Pacquiao went 12 rounds working the mitts with Roach at the famed sweatbox on Vine St, although the two-hour training was strictly closed to the public, including members of the media.

“I had to close it down completely," Roach said later. “I need his focus. The conditioning stuff, it’s all there right now. It’s just that his focus is not 100 percent. He’s still got Congress on his mind and so forth.

“Now, he’s in Los Angeles, we know the fight's close. He’s going to focus on the fight and the game plan."

Pacquiao will hold a media day at the gym on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila), which would be the only time the training of the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter will be open to the public.

And yes, even popular figures such as Pacquiao die-hards, like actors Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Mario Lopez, won’t be exempted.

“They want to come, but I’m going to have to say no," said Roach. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV