Roach to stop bout if Manny gets hurt

Freddie Roach will not hesitate to throw in the towel if and when he sees Manny Pacquiao getting terribly hurt against Oscar dela Hoya in their “Dream Match” in December.

“I watch that in all of my fighters’ fights. It’s always much safer if a guy is being overwhelmed to just stop it, and let him fight for another day,” Roach told Boxing Herald yesterday.

Brad Cooney, who has closely followed Pacquiao in his big fights the last few years, pinned Roach by asking if he’d hesitate to throw in the towel “if Manny gets into trouble.”

“I don’t see that happening in this fight, but if so, I will of course protect my guy. I will never let my fighter take a beating to where he gets hurt,” said Roach who looks at Pacquiao as his son.

“It’s always a chance of that happening in boxing, it’s a tough sport. If you don’t want to do this (boxing) 100 percent, you don’t need to be doing it at all,” he said.

Cooney had a lengthy interview with Roach, and in his article wrote that Pacquiao is doing a very good job in training, in fact sending one of his 160-pound sparring partners packing.

Roach said Pacquiao tipped the scales at 151 pounds, just four pounds over the limit set for the biggest fight of the year – one pitting the pay-per-view king against the pound-for-pound king.

Roach talked about how focused Pacquiao is for the fight that he had to turn down an invitation for him to be in an Oakland Raiders game on Philippine Appreciation Day.

Roach said Pacquiao would have less problem going up in weight compared to Dela Hoya who needs to go down a few steps lower after being in a couple of 150- to 160-pound fights.

“Well going up in weight doesn’t usually make you weak like going down in weight does. We are comfortable where Manny is at right now,” he said.

“I added some more protein to his diet, and he’s working with a nutritionist. I have him eating four times a day right now, and it’s working out well.”

Pacquiao enters his second week of sparring today (Tuesday in Los Angeles) at the Wild Card Gym, and the number of rounds should be up from four last week to six or eight.

Pacquiao has been quite impressive in his sparring sessions against boxers close to six feet tall and 160 pounds. Last Thursday he sent Aaron “The Energizer” Robinson packing.

“We just finished a great sparring day. Manny just hurt a 160lb sparring partner with a right hook. Thank God he didn’t finish him!” said Roach, referring to Marcus McDonald.