Pacquiao, Roach fondly recall 15 years at the Wild Card
los angeles — Manny Pacquiao was all kinds of hungry when he first walked into the Wild Card Boxing Club 15 years ago. An undernourished and largely unknown Filipino fighter wanted to learn, to grow — to take on the world.
When he walked out of the Wild Card for perhaps the final time this week, Pacquiao stepped onto an enormous bus with his glowering face plastered across its length. He took a four-hour drive to Las Vegas with his entourage of dozens, stopping only to buy mountains of snacks at a convenience store, on the way to a luxury suite and his pay-per-view fight against Timothy Bradley on Saturday.
Pacquiao found everything he sought from boxing in this gloriously dilapidated Hollywood gym run by trainer Freddie Roach. They’ve been together since 2001, forming a tenacious partnership that might get its final test this weekend.
“I don’t think this is it, so I don’t think I’m going to have to get sad or anything like that,” Roach said. “If it is it, I will miss him, and we’ll be friends forever. But he’s always been a great guy to me. It would be different not having him around, for sure, but life goes on. It’s OK.”
If Pacquiao retires into politics after this bout, he has already thrown his final punch at the Wild Card, his training home since 2001. He’ll never again take direction from Roach, who nurtured his growth into an eight-division champion and the Philippines’ most famous man.
Pacquiao has repeatedly said he could be forced out of boxing if the congressman is elected to a Senate position later this year, but he might not have considered the finality of it all until he actually arrived at his last workout in Hollywood. His eyes narrowed while he methodically wrapped his hands with brisk movements.
“I’m thinking about it,” Pacquiao said. “I love it here. It’s my second home. It’s been a long time since I started training at the Wild Card.”
Roach remembers the earliest months of their relationship with fondness. Pacquiao lived next door at the Vagabond Inn, and Roach would go back to the humble hotel to relax while Pacquiao sang and learned to play the guitar. The Beatles’ was the first song he mastered — to a point.
“I don’t know if he’s a great singer,” Roach said. “But he practiced, and he tried really hard to be entertaining at that. He was just a really good kid.” —