Pacquiao’s speed will take down Margarito – Roach

from: abs-cbnnews.com

MANILA, Philippines — Speed will triumph over size in the upcoming Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito bout, Freddie Roach said in a radio interview.

“It’s all about the distance and we’ve got the distance and timing of our shots down. The thing is speed is going to win this fight,”
Pacquiao’s coach told ESPN Radio on Wednesday (Thursday, in Manila).

Pacquiao will fight Mexico’s Margarito for the World Boxing Council (WBC) light middleweight title on November 13 (Nov. 14 in Manila) at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

In the interview, Roach countered some speculations that Mexico’s 5’11” Margarito will overpower Pacquiao, who stands at 5’6”, with only size as the determining factor.

“Manny is going to hit him four- or five-punch combination and get out. Margarito is going to be swinging wide. You can beat him down the middle all night long,” the Hall of Fame coach said.

He said Team Pacquiao has studied Margarito’s physiological advantages over the Fighter of the Decade, saying the opponent’s “reach advantage is easy to take away.”

“Margarito’s wide with all his punches. He can’t throw a straight punch if he had to. His footwork is terrible and we will take advantage of that. I’ve studied him quite a bit,” Roach said.

With regard to other advantages of Margarito against Pacquiao, the coach said it was the Mexican’s “good chin and that is his best asset.”

Pacquiao’s plan to improve his speed previously troubled the coach as the boxer missed some training days in Baguio because of “distractions.”

“We had maybe our worst training camp ever. We’ve never had a bad one and comparative-wise, it’s probably better than most people’s training camps. Manny missed one day because the President [Aquino] wanted to meet him and I was little pissed off about that,” he said.

However, after Team Pacquiao arrived in Los Angeles, California in October 25, Roach said the boxer’s training has been “100% better.”

“Going for his eighth world title and all these different weight classes, I thought his speed may be affected by his growth also. He has power at this weight and his speed is as great as always,” he added.

Pacquiao’s speed is a concern for Margarito, who previously said that his team has developed a strategy to offset it.

“Look, I know Manny is very quick, but we have a game plan and with that game plan, we will defeat Manny,” Margarito earlier said.