Freddie Roach has stepped up the mind games as he prepares Manny Pacquiao for that massive showdown with Oscar De La Hoya.
Roach was in De La Hoya’s corner for the split-decision defeat by Floyd Mayweather Jr back in 2007.
But he’ll be heading up the opposition as Pacman’s trainer for what they’re calling ‘The Dream Match’ in Las Vegas on December 6.
Roach claims De La Hoya is now blaming him for that defeat by the ‘Pretty Boy’, but says he brought about his own downfall by abandoning the gameplan.
“The gameplan we had for the fight was working well in the early rounds, I thought we were winning the fight. Then he abandoned the gameplan and we end up losing a decision.
“Then later on, I guess about a month ago, he started blaming me for the loss. But he’s always blaming somebody so he can blame me for this one too.
“It’s obvious, the jab was working well for him, that’s his bread and butter he just lost sight of it and I couldn’t get him to bring it back. I was urging him in the corner to keep using his left hand but it wasn’t there.”
Roach was only in De La Hoya’s corner for one fight, but he says he saw enough that night to help Pacquiao come out victorious on December 6.
“It’s a mistake Oscar made in the fight and we’re gonna take advantage of it. I’m not going to tell you what it was but it was something he started doing. It wasn’t something Mayweather was doing, it was a mistake Oscar made and I know it well. And we will take advantage of it.”
De La Hoya faded down the stretch against Mayweather, not for the first time in his career, and Roach believes that is all in the mind for the ‘Golden Boy’.
He said: “It’s 100 percent mental. He trains very hard, he runs good, he has great work ethic. It’s a mental issue, what I don’t know. I’ve had sports pyschologists call me up and offer to help Oscar with that problem and I told Oscar and he just laughed at me. There might be something to it.”
Filed under: Boxing News Tagged: | freddie roach
