By Edward Chaykovksy

According to Freddie Roach, trainer of WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, their sparring selections are being blocked off by manager/adviser Al Haymon, who works with WBC/WBA champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. The two fighters will collide in a mega-fight unification on May 2nd from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Roach claims he is hiring sparring partners who are stylistically similar to Mayweather, but Haymon's staff members are calling the hired fighters and offering them more money to simply stay home.

“I'm hiring sparring partners, Al Haymon's people calls them up and offers more money for them not to come. [But] I'm not worried about those guys,” said Roach to ABS-CBN News. “We got four really good sparring partners for Manny for this fight, Mayweather look-alikes.

“We started our game plan five years ago but we changed it a little bit. Definitely there will be some adjustments. I'm confident that we'll win the fight and this will be the biggest fight night of all our lives. The guy is undefeated, he's a very good boxer and he's the most talented fighter we'll ever face. He's tricky also... he's intelligent as a fighter. I believe we need to fight the perfect fight."