Roach: Mayweather can’t move like he used to because of age; Pacquiao and him are an even fight

By Boxing News - 09/14/2012 - Comments

Image: Roach: Mayweather can't move like he used to because of age; Pacquiao and him are an even fightBy Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t think that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. has his legs anymore under him due to old age starting to set in for the 35-year-old champion. Mayweather took a lot of heavy shots in his last fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto last May in winning that fight.

Roach believes the punishment that Mayweather took was because he couldn’t move around to avoid Cotto’s shots because of his legs not working like they once did.

Roach told Fightnews.com “I don’t think he fought Cotto in the pocket by choice. I think he had to. He was much more mobile before. I don’t think he can move like he used to. His legs have given out on him.”

Roach went on to say that he believes that both Pacquiao and Mayweather are an “8” out of 10 from what they used to be. He believes that they’re both about even at this point in their careers.

I don’t think Roach is seeing things clearly. Mayweather can move when he wants to, but he chose to slug with Cotto in order to make the fight exciting and to win over fans. Mayweather also chose to fight Cotto at the full 154 lb weight for the junior middleweight division instead of asking for a catchweight handicap. Pacquiao could have had a fight with Cotto right now instead of another fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, but Cotto wasn’t interested in fighting Pacquiao at a catchweight. It’s too bad Pacquiao wouldn’t face Cotto at the full weight like Mayweather because the fight would be much bigger than seeing Pacquiao fight Marquez for the fourth time. That’s getting really old about this time.

Roach is way off about Pacquiao and Mayweather being even. All you have to do is take one look at Pacquiao’s last fight against Tim Bradley to notice that he’s not on the same level as Mayweather.

Pacquiao has become a fighter that only fights hard in the last seconds of every round and can’t move around the ring like he once did. Talk about someone who has lost his legs. Pacquiao has become utterly stationary and vulnerable. Even a light hitting fighter like Bradley was able to take advantage of Pacquiao’s lack of movement and ability to cut off the ring.



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