Freddie Roach Says Manny's Performance Against Bradley Amongst His Best

The boxing team of a fighter, with time becomes nothing short of a family. Every member has a role, some more important than others. Of all the members, boxers are closest to, and rely the most on their coach. They rely on this person for their training, friendship and honesty. Telling the fighter the way things really are, is of great importance, because creating a utopia of lies will dig a hole that their pupil will never dig themselves out of. 

Freddie Roach did just that with his recent statement concerning Manny Pacquiao and his recent performance against Timothy Bradley. Roach padded the truth that his fighter looked worse than most people had expected him to, stating:

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I’m very proud of Manny. I thought he fought a very good fight. I thought that was one of the best fights since the (Miguel) Cotto fight. I told him he gave the 11th round away. Bradley was very tough and very durable. I thought we clearly, clearly won the fight.

– Freddie Roach, via ABS-CBNnews.com.

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Roach is right about one thing, and that is the clear victory that the judges stole from Team Pacquiao. Was this one of Pacquiao’s better performances? Absolutely not. If Freddie is going to be honest, this is something he will have to admit.

Sure, Pacquiao had an incredible work rate and was the definite aggressor in the fight, but there was a lot that was missing when comparing this Manny with that of a few years ago.

For one, Pacquiao’s accuracy in this fight was questionable. I am aware that throwing more means there is a lesser chance of connecting, but there were moments where Pacquiao looked nothing less than sloppy.

He threw punches which were way too wide and missed some that the previous Manny would have connected with. Because of that, there were moments where he ran out of gas, for no good reason.

I also think that tactically, Roach left Manny hanging. Sometimes throwing high volumes doesn’t do the trick. If this is the kind of Manny that Roach was planning to put in the ring against Mayweather Jr., we would see Manny in very serious trouble.