Pacquiao and Roach give Ortiz a good chance at beating Mayweather

By Boxing News - 09/07/2011 - Comments

Image: Pacquiao and Roach give Ortiz a good chance at beating MayweatherBy Chris Williams: To no great surprise both Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao are giving WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz a good chance at beating undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It seems what made a believer out of Roach was a recent sparring session between Pacquiao and Ortiz where Ortiz gave Pacquiao a lot of problems with his power, speed and size. Roach won’t come out and say that Ortiz blasted Pacquiao around, but it sounds as if that’s what happened.

Pacquiao said this to Michael Marley the examiner.com: “You cannot underestimate Victor. Victor is a real puncher and there is a big chance for Victor to win this fight. Oh, yeah, there is.”

Roach said this about the Mayweather-Ortiz fight: “We know Victor Ortiz and he is strong. I am not counting him out. He worked eight rounds in sparring against Manny, you know. I wouldn’t say that Victor just held his own with Manny. Victor did better than just hold his own.”

I think both Roach and Pacquiao are dead wrong about this fight, and I imagine it would make things easier for them if Ortiz did beat Mayweather. With Mayweather beaten, Pacquiao wouldn’t have to worry about fighting him anymore and could concern himself with trying to figure out how to beat Ortiz. And that doesn’t sound like a very easy task for the smallish Pacquiao, because Ortiz is just as quicker, a southpaw but with even more power and youth. Ortiz would be a nightmare for Pacquiao, just as Mayweather. I’d be surprised if Pacquiao ever found his way into the ring to take him on to be honest. Ortiz is the opposite of the fodder that Pacquiao has been facing the past three years – he’s young, fast, powerful, and not recently beaten up.



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