By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach is still stewing about WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) showing little interest in fighting his No.1 guy WBO 147 pound champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) in a mega-fight.
Roach has recently been saying that the only reason why Mayweather has shown no interest in that fight is because he feels he’s a shot fighter whose legs are gone. In a recent interview, Roach continued along that theme with him believing Mayweather has lost a few steps and can no longer move like he used to.
Roach says that both of his top two money fighters – Pacquiao and WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto – are better than Mayweather at this point. Mayweather beat Cotto in 2012, but Roach points out that was before he started training him and having him throw more left hooks.
“I think it’s a better fight [Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez than Mayweather vs. Pacquiao],” Roach said to Fighthub.com. “I think Floyd’s a little shot right now. I see that’s why he won’t fight Pacquiao. That’s my opinion. He [Mayweather] says he wants to please the audience for him not moving so well anymore. I say bull [expletive]. Your legs are gone. I have two guys [Cotto and Pacquiao] with better talent than he [Mayweather] does. He’s been well protected. He has a great deal with Showtime where he gets to pick his opponents. Promoters shouldn’t let that happen.”
It’s hard to see either Cotto or Pacquiao as being anywhere close to the talent level that Mayweather has after looking at some of their recent fights. Cotto hasn’t fought a live body since he was beaten by Austin Trout in 2012. In Cotto’s last two fights, he’s beaten a shot Sergio Martinez and Delvin Rodriguez, a fighter that was easily beaten by Trout in Rodriguez’s prime.
Cotto is the same fighter that Mayweather and Trout beat, as far as I can tell. He’s just older now and no longer fighting good opposition. Pacquiao has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, and was staggered by the light hitting Tim Bradley in his last fight in April. I don’t know that Pacquiao can take a big punch any longer without getting hurt, and I think Mayweather would know him out.
Roach can talk all he wants about how he thinks Mayweather is a shot fighter, but I don’t believe that’s going to lead to Mayweather looking to fight either Cotto or Pacquiao. They’re with Top Rank, and he likely won’t be looking to do Bob Arum of Top Rank any favors by fighting them.
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