LOS ANGELES -- It hardly mattered that Buboy Fernandez, the man designated head trainer by Manny Pacquiao before his last fight, was the one holding the punch mitts. Just as he's done for years, Freddie Roach spoke in a tone that was inaudible more than five feet away from Pacquiao, giving strategy and motivation for his fighter to focus on during the burnout round.
In years past it was just he and Pacquiao who could hear what was said; now Fernandez could too. It was a sign of the changing dynamic as Pacquiao begins his 24th year as a professional fighter ahead of his fight against Adrien Broner at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday.
It's a situation which could be touchy for any other team to maneuver. Pacquiao, after 16 years with Roach as head trainer, elected not to bring him back for the Lucas Matthysse fight last July. The two hadn't spoken after Pacquiao lost to Jeff Horn in Australia in 2017, and Roach said he found out about the change when a news release appeared online.
Pacquiao claims Roach was never off his team, only that he wanted Fernandez -- his childhood friend from their days in General Santos City -- to have "head trainer of the only eight division champion in boxing history" on his resume. He said he wanted Fernandez to have a career in training after Pacquiao's own boxing days are over.
Roach got the news that he would return as a "consultant" for the Adrien Broner fight in much the same way: Pacquiao announced it at the kickoff news conference in New York without looping him in. It wasn't until they met later after the second press conference in Beverly Hills that Roach formally accepted the assignment.
"For me it's no problem as long as we work together. The most important is, is Manny going to win the fight," said Fernandez. "Who you are, what is your position, I don't care; I need my friend to win the fight. We need to respect each other. Because if my friend suffers, we all suffer."
Any hints of friction were not apparent this week as Pacquiao finished up the sparring leg of his training camp. In his corner, Roach and Fernandez stood as a united front along with strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune.
"When [Pacquiao] walks in, goes in the dressing room, I go in and I ask him, what are we doing today?" Roach said. "I say 'OK,' he'll ask me how many rounds can I go today? ... I'll get all my information, then I go over to Buboy and [assistant] Nonoy [Neri] and I tell them what Manny wants."
Fortune's job is made simpler because Pacquiao is one of the few top level fighters who is not concerned about weight. After some strength drills in the first couple of weeks, Fortune said the focus has been on specific exercises for power and speed. Fortune can speak with authority and get fighters to listen because he was a heavyweight boxer who once fought Lennox Lewis.
Fortune has also been on the outs after a disagreement with Roach following Pacquiao's 2007 win against Jorge Solis. He returned before the Brandon Rios fight in 2013 following Pacquiao's back-to-back losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
"When Manny's happy, then I'm happy, Freddie's happy, Buboy's happy," said Fortune of the current arrangement. "It's good, everyone's doing what they do, working together, and that's what we want. If I get a happy fighter, he'll give us 110 percent."
It all can seem chaotic, but Pacquiao seems to thrive in chaos -- splitting his time as boxer and a senator in the Philippines. Before being elected to the Senate, he served that served two terms in the House of Representatives representing Sarangani province. He has hosted a daytime variety show called "Manny Many Prizes," and starred in movies, and recorded a cover of the song "Sometimes When We Touch" with Dan Hill.
No trainer or promoter controls Pacquiao's inner workings but Pacquiao himself.
Fernandez and Roach alternate days holding mitts for Pacquiao. If they both talk in the corner on fight night, it wouldn't be the first time.
If there are two people Pacquiao would trust with his life, it's Fernandez and Roach. Fernandez has been a constant in Pacquiao's career since his earliest days. After Pacquiao was knocked unconscious in 2012 by one Marquez right hand, the first thing he did when coming to was to call for his friend. Fernandez will taste food to ensure it's to Pacquiao's liking, or make a quick run for vitamins or other items that only Fernandez would know how to locate. Fernandez and Pacquiao often don't even need to talk to know what's on each other's minds.
Roach, an all-action junior lightweight fighter from Massachusetts during the 80s, is largely credited with helping Pacquiao round out his skills when he first came to America to train in 2001. He helped Pacquiao transform from a raw slugger to a refined, calculating attacker. Along the way, Pacquiao was named Fighter of the Decade for the 2000s by the Boxing Writers Association. Roach was named Trainer of the Year seven times by the same group and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012. Roach's continued influence is evident since his preferred cut man, David Martinez, will be working the corner.
The situation isn't unlike what Broner had to undergo when he brought in Kevin Cunningham -- a former narcotics detective for the St. Louis Police Department with a reputation as a tough love disciplinarian -- to take over as head trainer early last year. His long-time coach and father figure Mike Stafford was moved to assistant trainer.
Broner has struggled to regain the form he held at the lighter weights, and has gone 0-1-1 in his last two fights -- including a listless decision loss to Mikey Garcia and a draw against Jessie Vargas. What makes his transition less contentious is that Broner has known Cunningham since he was 8.
"He knows I'm about business, when it's time to be about business we take care of business," said Cunningham.
On this day, Fernandez again worked the mitts as Roach imparted his advice. The words are usually private, but Roach says the message was to hammer home the significance of speed -- which he believes will be the difference in the fight.
"Buboy's done a great job," said Roach afterwards. "He's really good on the mitts when he wants to be."