Behind the Scenes: Fight Night

Just hours before the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao clash, The Players’ Tribune spoke with Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach to get an inside look at what’s going on inside the camp in the lead-up to the fight.

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I think Floyd Mayweather is going to come out and go for the early knockout. And I think that’s a big mistake, because we’re going to be ready for him. All week long, people keep saying that Floyd is going to dance around and play defense. I don’t believe it.

As a trainer, you look at the tools — you look at the gloves the guy is using. I inspected Mayweather’s gloves last night and it told me everything I needed to know. The Grant gloves that Mayweather is wearing are smaller and tighter than Manny’s Reyes gloves. Mayweather’s got big hand wraps and a lot of padding. This is the first time that he’s picked a puncher’s glove. This tells me that he’s going to come out early and go for the knockout.

If I was Floyd’s trainer, that’s what I would have him do. If you look at the Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV fight, don’t look at when Manny got knocked out, because that doesn’t matter. That was just him stepping on Marquez’s foot and getting hit off balance. It was a good shot, but it doesn’t tell you much about this fight.

If you look at the first knockdown of that fight three rounds earlier, it was a big overhand right, a big sucker shot that knocked Manny down. That’s the punch you want to look out for. That’s what Mayweather’s going to be looking for, believe me. He’s going to try to catch Manny pulling away like he was in that Marquez fight. It was a bad mistake he made that night but I don’t think he’ll make it again.

We’ve gone over it so many times in the gym. I think it’s in his head now not to make that same mistake again. I’ll be telling him the same thing before the fight. We’ll be ready.

I’m gonna have Manny warmed up really good in the dressing room because I do believe Mayweather is going to try to get us early. Don’t be surprised if it’s a quick start and quick finish. People put muscle on for one reason and that’s for strength. Mayweather put weight on because he wants the knockout. But you know what? I think we’re going to knock his ass out.

Whatever happens, I don’t buy what the experts are saying. Floyd is going to come out swinging. We’re going to come out swinging. Let's do it.