Roach: Haymon paying off Pacquiao sparring partners

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said that the ideal sparring partners he has in mind for his WBO Welterweight Champion is being paid off by Manager Al Haymon to not participate in training sessions with the Filipino boxer.

Roach said that he has been searching for sparring partners with similar fighting styles to Floyd Mayweather Jr to better prepare Pacquiao for his fight against the undefeated fighter on May 2 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

However, Haymon, who works closely with Mayweather, and his people have been calling some of Roach’s options and been paying them more money to simply stay at home, according to Roach.

“I’m hiring sparring partners. Al Haymon’s people call them up and offer more money for them not to come,” Roach said via ABS-CBN News. “But I’m not worried about those guys.”

“We got 4 really good sparring partners for Manny for this fight; Mayweather look-alikes.”

After years of up-and-down negotiations, Pacquiao, 36, will will finally get a chance to put the first loss on the 38-year-old Mayweather’s record in his 48th fight.

“We started our game plan five years ago but we changed it a little bit. Definitely there will be some adjustments. I’m confident that we’ll win the fight and this will be the biggest fight night of all our lives,” said Roach, who recently predicted Pacquiao to knock out Mayweather in the later rounds of the bout.

“The guy is undefeated, he’s a very good boxer and he’s the most talented fighter we’ll ever face.”

“I believe we need to fight the perfect fight.” – Rappler.com