Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather leave the trash-talking to their trainers

While trash-talking by the two fighters has been at a bare minimum ahead of Saturday’s welterweight showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao, their trainers engaged in a war of words on Thursday.

Pacquiao’s corner man, Freddie Roach, complained that the Mayweather camp had not yet submitted gloves for testing before his opposite number, Floyd Mayweather Snr, countered by saying the Pacquiao camp was simply running scared.

Roach and Mayweather Snr have got on like oil and water over the years and, hardly surprisingly, there was no eye contact between them as Roach ended his news conference and passed by Mayweather Snr on the media centre stage at the MGM Grand.

“I don’t hate Floyd Mayweather Snr, I just hate his poems,” Roach said of his fellow American, who frequently recites pithy poems about his fighters’ opponents. “But he doesn’t get under my skin.”

Roach, who declared he and Pacquiao had developed “a winning formula” to beat Mayweather Jnr, was unhappy that their opponent’s gloves had not yet been tested.

“I just asked the [Nevada Athletic] Commission if both gloves will be weighed,” said Roach. “Their gloves are hand-made. I just want to make sure the weight is fair, but his gloves haven’t showed up yet.”

Mayweather Snr scoffed when asked why his fighter’s gloves had not been submitted.