Roach wants referee to call a fair fight for Pacquiao against Mayweather

By Boxing News - 03/17/2015 - Comments

roach9By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is concerned about whether the referee that winds up working Pacquiao’s May 2nd fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr will be fair to him. Roach believes the judges will call a fair fight due to it being a huge affair.

The referee that works the fight will likely not be a factor in the fight unless we see a premature stoppage. It’s not as if the referees have been a big factor in Pacquiao or Mayweather’s past fights. The only referee in the past that caused any controversy was Joe Cortez in the Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton fight in 2007.

Cortez broke up some of the action early in the fight when Hatton was trying to work on the inside against Mayweather, but it wasn’t a big deal. Hatton was eventually knocked out by a check left hook by Mayweather, and it didn’t matter that Cortez broke up some of the early attempts by Hatton to work in close.

What exactly Roach means by being fair to Pacquiao is unclear. In the past, the referees haven’t shown any inclination to disrupt what Pacquiao does in the ring, and they haven’t shown any tendency to take points off from him. I can’t remember the last time Pacquiao was penalized by a referee.

“I think they [the referees] all respect me and Manny enough to give us a fair fight,” Roach said via Dyan Castillejo of abs-cbnnews.om. “That’s all I’m asking for. Whoever refs this fight, all I’m asking is please, give us a fair fight, and let the best man win, and I think they’ll do that,” he added. The Vegas judges, I think that this is such a big fight that they’re going to call a fair fight,” Roach said.

I don’t know what Roach is looking for from the referee for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Does Roach want the referee to stop Mayweather from moving around the ring and jabbing Pacquiao at will? I don’t think a referee can do that.

Does Roach want the referee to keep Mayweather from throwing right hand pot shots to the head of Pacquiao? I don’t think that’s going to happen either. The referee won’t have to worry about clinching, because Mayweather rarely clinches.

Roach needs to do a better job of explaining what he’s looking for the referee to do and not do for this fight, because he’s being vague when he says he want the referee to “give up a fair fight.” The referee can’t jump on Mayweather’s case about him using ring movement to out-box Pacquiao. Movement is perfectly acceptable in the sport of boxing, especially when the fighter is landing shots on the move.

I think Roach is worrying too much about stuff that he really doesn’t need to worry about. Instead of him thinking about whether the judge will call a fair fight, Roach needs to worry about what Pacquiao can do in order to make himself more competitive against Mayweather, because I don’t know if he’s going to be able to do that against a fighter like Mayweather.

The referee is really the least of Pacquiao;s problems in this fight on May 2nd. Pacquiao and Roach’s real problems are what they are going to do against the highly skilled Mayweather.

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If Roach is hoping and counting on the referee to keep Mayweather in one place so that Pacquiao can have a better chance of winning, then I think he’s going to be sadly disappointed in this fight. The referee won’t be able to keep Mayweather from using movement, ring generalship and his boxing skills to pound out a decision.



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