Freddie Roach

Manny Pacquiao's skyrocketing popularity created chaos that no mere mortal could be expected to balance. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) appeared more human than ever in his last fight, however. As he prepares now for his next bout June 9 against Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao and his trainer acknowledge Everyman's frailty has been his most imposing contender. "All the distractions caught up to Manny in his last fight," Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said Thursday of the boxer's narrow decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Manny Pacquiao's skyrocketing popularity created chaos that no mere mortal could be expected to balance. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) appeared more human than ever in his last fight, however. As he prepares now for his next bout June 9 against Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao and his trainer acknowledge Everyman's frailty has been his most imposing contender. "All the distractions caught up to Manny in his last fight," Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said Thursday of the boxer's narrow decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Manny Pacquiao is surrounded by people who make his life easier: a personal chef, friends to entertain with karaoke, buddies who'll play darts and basketball and a business manager looking out for his financial interests. Pacquiao asks a favor, wants something done, and the answer is yes. Freddie Roach is the exception. Roach, a former journeyman boxer who trained at the foot of Joe Frazier's Hall of Fame cornerman Eddie Futch, is the honest voice in the ear of the world's top pound-for-pound boxer.

Spend enough time around hard-core boxing followers, and their opinions begin taking the shape of gospel. Timothy Bradley is stronger and younger than Manny Pacquiao, the argument starts. Some say that Pacquiao was "exposed" as an older, less powerful fighter in his narrow November decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. And that Bradley, 28, can beat Pacquiao, 33, in their June 9 fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Wait, what? "It's a tough test, this is a young guy coming up to take on the established guy and being undefeated can make you highly resilient to losing," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said about Bradley during a Beverly Hills news conference Tuesday.

Freddie Roach was on track to marry his high school sweetheart and become an arborist caring for ornamental trees. "I chose to become a prizefighter instead," Roach said last week while standing in a ring corner of his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood as a fighter sparred. "I got a plane ticket to Vegas instead, and here we are. " Where he is now is the subject of a new reality series from director Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights") that will debut Friday on HBO; titled, "On Freddie Roach," it's a six-part series co-produced by HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley.

Hall of Fame boxing trainer Freddie Roach turned 50 the other day, and he's developed a philosophy that has served him well. "I kinda have refused to grow up -- I still think I'm a kid," noted Roach at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, where he's been prepping the most dangerous fighter on the planet, Manny Pacquiao, for his fight Saturday against Joshua Clottey, on pay-per-view from Arlington, Texas. "I have the best job in the world, and I don't have to come here anymore, but I do because I love it. I never thought at 50 I'd be having the time of my life."

USA Boxing, trying to pick itself off the canvas, has embraced the wisdom of the sport's most celebrated trainer. Freddie Roach has begun his work as a consultant to the downtrodden U.S. boxing program, which will stage its 2012 Olympic-qualifying trials from July 31 to Aug. 6 in Mobile, Ala. "I'm willing to listen to whatever he has to say," said Rau'shee Warren, 24, of Cincinnati, a returning Olympian from the 2008 U.S. team, which failed...

Five members of the family of the late Paul Roach will be at ringside Saturday night in Las Vegas for the big fight. Everybody else will be there to see Manny Pacquiao versus Oscar De La Hoya. The Roach family will be there to see their brother Freddie, who will be in the trainer's spot in Pacquiao's corner. They might be hard to spot, unless you look for the people who have their chests puffed out the most. And oh, how they have earned that pride.

Freddie Roach had a dream. He wanted to be an arborist. Yes, the same Freddie Roach who became a colorful lightweight and is now one of the most successful trainers in boxing. He is working with 11 major fighters, including Manny Pacquiao, who will fight Erik Morales Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. But when he was a kid in Massachusetts, Roach detested boxing. He was more interested in the trees in his backyard. Literally.

The theory that Manny Pacquiao is so good he can afford to back off in training camp is about to be tested. "Worst camp ever," Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach said Wednesday, 18 days before the first-term Philippine congressman seeks a record eighth weight-class world title in a junior-middleweight bout against Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium outside Dallas. Pacquiao's conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, complained his fighter routinely found excuses in the Philippines to avoid the strength training to pack on extra pounds of muscle against Margarito, who could weigh close to 160 pounds on fight night Nov. 13. "I don't believe in waiting until the last two weeks and then trying to push it," Ariza said.

Freddie Roach was on track to marry his high school sweetheart and become an arborist caring for ornamental trees. "I chose to become a prizefighter instead," Roach said last week while standing in a ring corner of his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood as a fighter sparred. "I got a plane ticket to Vegas instead, and here we are. " Where he is now is the subject of a new reality series from director Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights") that will debut Friday on HBO; titled, "On Freddie Roach," it's a six-part series co-produced by HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley.

It's usually a contender who begrudgingly accepts a fight in a champion's hometown for the sake of having a title shot. Amir Khan has flipped tradition, going to Washington for a World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight bout against challenger Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 knockouts), a native of the District of Columbia. "The home crowd is a lot of pressure," Khan, 25, said this week of his sixth title defense, which will be televised by HBO (6:45 p.m. PST). "He might crack. I think he'll fight with his heart and all his dreams will go out the window.

From Las Vegas — Boxing will give its fans another nice appetizer Saturday night. Promoter Bob Arum, a master of such things, has kept hamburger sliders as a mainstay on his fight menu. Manny Pacquiao, the world's current top fighter, both in the ring and in fans' perception, will take on Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden. They will fight at 144 pounds, a catchweight and a concept that is becoming the norm in making big fights. The WBO welterweight title is at stake, but the only people who care about that are the WBO sanctioning people, who are here on expense accounts.

From Las Vegas — It is Wednesday of fight week, Manny Pacquiao versus Juan Manuel Marquez. And it is time to fess up. My name is Bill, and I'm a boxing-oholic. I've tried so hard. I should know better. Recently, I was very close to kicking this terrible condition. The last two fights I covered involved Floyd Mayweather Jr., punching out the lights of Victor Ortiz shortly after Ortiz kissed him on the cheek while the referee was looking elsewhere. Boxing called that a knockout victory.

The man who has watched boxers prepare for fights since the 1960s approached the trainer of the sport's current king and expressed some cautionary words. "Slow him down, Freddie," veteran fight promoter Bob Arum said near the sweat-soaked ring in Hollywood. It's there where Manny Pacquiao has returned to train under Freddie Roach for the final four weeks before his third fight against bitter rival Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas. "Slow him down," Arum repeated.

Manny Pacquiao's road to stardom was established by power punching and a pair of compelling back-and-forth bouts against his rival from Mexico, Juan Manuel Marquez. As Pacquiao prepares for his third fight against Marquez on Nov. 12 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the Filipino star's attention is locked on the goal to reaffirm his power reputation by quieting Marquez once and for all. "Everybody knows Marquez has been talking too much," Pacquiao said Wednesday as he and Marquez continued their international promotional tour at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

It was just your normal Monday luncheon at The Times. Lots of coats and ties. People who make the news, invited to break bread with people who report the news. Then Floyd Mayweather Sr. said something about being the smartest boxing trainer and Freddie Roach reminded him that he was in the Hall of Fame, not Floyd Sr. From calm came chaos. Ah, boxing. The sweet science of the unrehearsed, the lovely art of the antisocial.

The low blows started before Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito stepped into the ring. In a video that appeared on various websites Tuesday, Margarito, his trainer Robert Garcia and Oxnard fighter Brandon Rios mocked the symptoms of Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, who has Parkinson's disease. "I had trouble sleeping last night," Roach said Wednesday after reviewing the video. "I want to fight all those guys myself, but I'm too old. ? I'll never talk to any of those guys again.

USA Boxing, trying to pick itself off the canvas, has embraced the wisdom of the sport's most celebrated trainer. Freddie Roach has begun his work as a consultant to the downtrodden U.S. boxing program, which will stage its 2012 Olympic-qualifying trials from July 31 to Aug. 6 in Mobile, Ala. "I'm willing to listen to whatever he has to say," said Rau'shee Warren, 24, of Cincinnati, a returning Olympian from the 2008 U.S. team, which failed...

Reporting from Las Vegas — It takes quite a bit to get Manny Pacquiao upset, but Shane Mosley accomplished the feat Saturday night with his unwillingness to engage in what a million-plus people paid millions of dollars to watch: a fight. "I expected him toe-to-toe with me for at least five of the 12 rounds," Pacquiao said after cruising to a one-sided, unanimous-decision victory over Mosley at MGM Grand Garden Arena. "I want to give people a good fight. " Instead, Pomona's Mosley (46-7-1)