Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is back in Los Angeles, California and ready to finish up the training camp of Manny Pacquiao at the Wild Card Gym. Pacquiao and Roach have spent the last few weeks training in the Philippines. They arrived back in the United States on Saturday night. Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) is preparing for Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) on November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The vacant WBC 154-pound title will stake.
Another Roach-trained fighter who spent the last few weeks in Pacquiao's camp, was WBA 140-pound champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs). Roach is training Khan for his upcoming defense against Marcos
Maidana on December 11in Las Vegas. A lot has been written about the recent sparring sessions between Pacquiao and Khan. Roach reveals the behind the scenes action and credits Khan for helping Pacquiao regain his speed.
"The sparring with Amir Khan was great. There were some days where Manny got the best of Amir, and then there were days when Amir got the best of Manny. It was back and forth and was very good," Roach said.
"I've seen Amir spar before, obviously, and he's always been very explosive. So I used Amir to bring Manny's speed back up. Because Manny had been fighting at the pace of some of the bigger guys that he had been sparring with. So I brought Amir Khan in for Manny to get his speed back up again, and it worked out perfectly."
There were several published reports where Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank's Bob Arum, appeared very concerned because he witnessed the sparring partners getting the better of Pacquiao. Roach admits that Pacquiao had some issues in the ring. However, Pacquiao was more focused after reading Arum's comments and really did a number on his sparring partners, junior middleweights Michael Medina (24-2-2, 19 KOs), Glen Tapia (7-0, 5 KOs), the following day.
"Well, Tapia and Medina are both big guys. They're very aggressive like I want them to be and they were doing their job. Manny looked good in spots, but on that day, they got the best of him. In the end, it was a good day, because I think that it woke Manny up. I think that when Manny read about and heard Bob's comments, it got to Manny and he made them pay for it the next day," Roach said.
Junior middleweights Vanes Martirosyan (28-0, 17 KOs) and Julio Cesar Chavez (40-0-1, 30 KOs) Jr. are expected to join Pacquiao's camp in the coming days, and both of them may spar with the Filipino champion.
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com
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