LOS ANGELES — Manny Pacquiao bops around the ring with a big grin at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club, a converted laundromat in the back of a small Hollywood strip mall. But Roach isn’t smiling. He’s quiet, thinking, looking at the floor.
Pacquiao hops over and snaps a jab at the top rope, right in front of Roach’s face. The whole ring shakes. And Pacquiao, with Roach’s attention, asks what’s wrong.
“Are you nervous, Freddie?”
Roach — the kind of quick-witted, foul-mouthed boxing lifer who exists only in dingy old gyms — remains silent. Then he looks up.
“No.”
He’s lying.
A 36-minute fight has replayed on a loop in Roach’s head for five years. It’s not the same fight every time. But it always has the same winner. Until recently.
Near the center of the circus, just outside the spotlight focused on the Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather superfight in Las Vegas on Saturday night — that will undoubtedly be the richest, most watched fight in the history of boxing — Roach is taking the challenge as a very personal punch to the gut.
“I’m a little worried about losing,” Roach told The Denver Post before Pacquiao arrived at the closed gym last week for a workout.
“I don’t know what I’m going do if we lose. Will I ever be the same?” Roach said. “This fight means so much. My whole life, to me, is riding on this fight.”
The long-awaited welterweight title bout between the two best boxers in the sport will play out over 12 three-minute rounds. But the lead-in has lasted years.
After Mayweather (47-0, 26 knockouts) and Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs) each defeated Oscar De La Hoya in 2007-08, it seemed obvious they should settle their claims to the No. 1 pound-for-pound badge.
But the bout took years to materialize. And the on-again, off-again drama only built up an honest hatred between the camps. Mayweather and his coaches, uncle Roger and father Floyd Sr., are on one side. Pacquiao and Roach are on the other.
“I’ve said a lot of things,” Roach said. “I hate those guys. I hate them. I really do.”
Mayweather accused Pacquiao of blood doping. Pacquiao accused Mayweather of dodging him. And that’s the PG version. There were lawsuits and public trash talk.
Roach, 55, a seven-time trainer of the year, put his reputation on the line. He has directed Pacquiao to titles in eight weight divisions. And he has been studying Mayweather for years, watching VHS tapes of his fights over and over. It’s an obsession.
But with the fight finally here, Roach is wearing his worry, even if he won’t say it to his fighter. Roach sees a neurologist for Parkinson’s disease, and that doctor was concerned enough recently to ask Roach if he has considered suicide. He told the doctor yes.
He has thought about breaking the window of a hotel room and jumping out. He said he was joking. But the doctor encouraged Roach to see a psychiatrist.
“We can’t lose this fight — because my whole reputation is on the line,” Roach said. “I’ve said a lot of things. I’ll be the laughingstock of boxing if we lose this fight.”
Mayweather, 38, is boxing’s undisputed No. 1 and roughly a 2-1 betting favorite. His undefeated record — including marquee wins over Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez, Canelo Alvarez, Jose Luis Castillo (twice) and Diego Corrales — will command something in the neighborhood of a $300 million payday for this fight.
Pacquiao, 36, has career-defining wins over Marquez (twice), Erik Morales (twice), Cotto and Hatton. But a knockout loss to Marquez in 2012 proved Pacquiao is beatable.
“I’m happy. That’s the thing. When you’re not happy with what you’re doing, that’s a problem,” Pacquiao said. “When you’re not excited by it, that’s a problem. I never thought I could be a champion in eight different weight divisions. But because my mood is always happy with what I’m doing, it just comes naturally.”
Pacquiao met Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Club in 2001, when he was a 122-pound bantamweight on a bus trip vacation from San Francisco. He’s now 28-3-1 with Roach. The coach said he still trusts Pacquiao’s ability — his punches are stronger than ever, he said — but he sees the thin difference between these boxers.
“Maybe it’s the excitement of getting this fight. He’s better than he’s ever been,” Roach said of Pacquiao. “But I’m a little paranoid. I don’t think I can teach him anything else.”
Pacquiao and Roach share something more than a cornerman-fighter relationship. Pacquiao, from General Santos City in the Philippines, and Roach, of Dedham, Mass., are sometimes father-son, sometimes pupil-student, sometimes friends. Their careers — Roach’s boxing life as a fighter and coach extends more than 40 years — are riding on each other.
They’re about to finally face the fight that will define their legacies.
At the Wild Card Gym, with about a dozen people sweating and watching, only two men are in the ring. Pacquiao looks loose. He’s having fun. And he tries to pep up his coach.
“Don’t worry, Freddie!” Pacquiao said. “Don’t be nervous. I’m the one who has to fight.”
Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or
At last, the big one
A long-awaited superfight between boxing’s two best will materialize Saturday in Las Vegas in a welterweight title unification bout:
Floyd Mayweather (47-0, 26 knockouts) vs. Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KOs), 147 pounds
Stakes: For the WBO, WBA and WBC championships
When: Saturday, 7 p.m. (two undercard fights before main event)
Where: MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas
TV: Showtime/HBO pay-per-view
Freddie Roach highlights: As a lightweight boxer, Roach had a 40-13 record with 15 KOs. … Learned coaching from his cornerman, Eddie Futch. … Trained Oscar De La Hoya in his split-decision loss to Mayweather in 2007 at the MGM Grand. … Champions he trained include current middleweight title holder Miguel Cotto, heavyweight Mike Tyson, light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins. … Also trained actors Mickey Rourke, Shaquille O’Neal and Mark Wahlberg.
