Roach: Manny ready for whatever Rios brings

MACAU – Freddie Roach is confident that they got all bases covered in Manny Pacquiao’s pivotal fight with Brandon Rios on Sunday.

An upbeat Roach talked to a handful of Filipino scribes on Saturday morning shortly after the weigh-in ceremony, which went without a hitch as both Pacquiao and Rios tipped the scales below the welterweight limit of 147 lbs.

Pacquiao is right where Roach wants him at 145 lbs, while Rios, who’s moving up from light welterweight, tipped the scales heavier at 146.5 lbs.

“Manny is in good spirits,” Roach told scribes after breakfast at the dining hall of the posh Venetian Resort here. “And when Manny is happy, he fights well.”

The bespectacled trainer is aware that Rios’ camp, led by chief trainer Robert Garcia, will try to exploit Pacquiao’s weaknesses which were highlighted in his recent losses against Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez.

The Mexican-American banger even stated earlier that he’ll try to duplicate what Marquez did to Pacquiao last December and knock him out with a counter shot.

Rios, according to Roach, will try to use movement against Pacquiao.

“They obviously watched tape on Manny. They know that Manny doesn’t like to go after people as much as he likes when people come to him. I’m sure they know that and that’s why part of our training camp was to set up for guys that move,” he explained.

But the problem for Rios is he isn’t the type of fighter who’s contented to box his way to a boring win.

“I don’t think he can run that fast. He can move away, lay on the ropes and lure Manny in. We are well-prepared for that,” added Roach.

He said it only takes one punch to force Rios to return to what he is: a free-swinging banger.

“I feel that once Manny hits him, he’ll go back to what he and he’ll swing back. He doesn’t have the tools to run. He’s not like a slick boxer. He has never been one,” Roach stressed.

But what if Rios indeed abandons his devil-may-care style?

Team Pacquiao got that covered as well.

“If he does run, we did prepare for that. We did work on cutting off the ring a lot and setting traps and if he comes to us, like he normally does, we’re a hundred percent ready for that,” Roach further added.

It now all depends on what Rios decides to do on Sunday.