Roach thinks Pacquiao should retire after Mayweather fight, says he might retire too

By Boxing News - 03/08/2010 - Comments

Image: Roach thinks Pacquiao should retire after Mayweather fight, says he might retire tooBy Jason Kim: Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach says that he think that Pacquiao should get out of boxing and retire after a possible fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. next. Roach seems to be overlooking completely the threat that Pacquiao has in front of him with a fight against Joshua Clottey bearing down on the Filipino fighter on March 13th. But Roach must be feeling pretty confident about Pacquiao’s chances in that fight for him to look ahead the way he is for a fight against Mayweather.

In an article at the Washingtonpost, Roach says “I’ve told Manny I’d like him to retire as a fighter after that [the fight against Mayweather, if there ever is one]. I want him healthy, wealthy and happy. I don’t ever want him having to take all the medication I have to take. I might retire too. I’ve been doing this a long time.”

A fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao would give not only both Pacquiao and Mayweather a huge million dollar payday, but Roach would get a nice payday as well. He might not need to train anymore fighters if he doesn’t want to after a mega fight like Mayweather-Pacquiao. However, it’s unclear whether Pacquiao or his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank feel the same way that Roach does about the retirement talk. Pacquiao still has a number of big money opponents in front of him besides just Mayweather.

There’s not a lot of them, but there’s more than a few starting with Edwin Valero, a rematch with Miguel Cotto if he wins the WBA light middleweight title over Yuri Foreman in June [this would give Pacquiao a chance to win his 8th world title, something he has talked about wanting], a fight against Amir Khan, Saul Alvarez, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander or even Paul Williams.

Provided that Pacquiao continues to age well and fight often, there’s no reason to believe that he shouldn’t be able to squeeze in another six or seven fights before he hangs up the gloves. If I’m Pacquiao, I wouldn’t be listening to what Roach is saying about retirement. Pacquiao needs to listen to his body, and if he feels that he’s slowing down as a fighter, only then should he consider hanging up the gloves.

But right now, Pacquiao is dominating and isn’t showing any signs of going downhill as a fighter. If anything, Pacquiao appears to be getting better still. He seems to be one of those Bernard Hopkins type fighters that gets better with age rather than declines. He could have another four to six good years left him if he wants to.

At the very least, Pacquiao can dominate for another few years if he wants to. Pacquiao needs to go after the easy fights after he fights Mayweather. Valero, Cotto, and Khan would be the ideal fights for Pacquiao to take in that order. None of those fighters will last long against Pacquiao, and he’d be able to win those fights without taking a lot of wear and tear in the process.

I expect Mayweather to get by Shane Mosley in May, which is why I didn’t include Mosley on the list of fighters that Pacquiao should fight. However, if Mosley does beat Mayweather, then he is the next guy that Pacquiao should be going after and not Mayweather.

As far as Roach does with his retirement talk, if he wants to retire then by all means he can do that. But he needs to let Pacquiao be and not be trying to have him follow his own personal vision for him.



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