Notebook: Pacquiao, Roach reunite for Barrios training camp
Catterall moving up to fight H. Eubank; bantamweight title shakeup; Figueroa vs. Gonzalez on Pacman PPV; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Two months before Manny Pacquiao is due to challenge WBC welterweight titlist Mario Barrios, and fresh from a resounding defeat in the Filipino elections last week as he sought a second term in the senate, the eight-division world champion and all-time great arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday for another training camp.
Pacquiao, who is 46 and ending a four-year retirement, was back with longtime trainer and Hall of Famer Freddie Roach on Monday to open camp at Roach’s famed Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California, ahead of the fight.
“They haven’t seen other in four years and Manny walked into the gym and Freddie was there and there were big smiles and big hugs,” Sean Gibbons, the president of Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, told Fight Freaks Unite. “They chatted for a few minutes and went to work like they hadn’t missed a day. It was a like a time warp. Nobody missed a beat. It was like, ‘We’re back, we’re working, and we have a fight to prepare for.’”
Not only is Roach back in position as head trainer but Pacquiao has the rest of the band back together as well with assistant trainers Marvin Somodio and Buyboy Fernandez and longtime publicist and Hall of Famer Fred Sternburg.
The fight, Pacquiao’s first since a decision loss challenging then-WBA welterweight titlist Yordenis Ugas in August 2021, is scheduled for July 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will headline a PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view card. It has not been formally announced but that is imminent and those involved acknowledge the fight is set.
The fight will take place just a few weeks after Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs), who turned pro in 1995, will be inducted on June 8 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
On Sunday, Roach celebrated the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Wild Card. Hundreds of guests, including many from the boxing community and city government, turned out for a ceremony at which the city renamed the plaza that is home to the gym and retail stores and restaurants “Freddie Roach Square.”