Roach wants to see Pacquiao fight Mayweather at 100% full health

By Boxing News - 11/11/2015 - Comments

roach54By Allan Fox: After Manny Pacquiao’s successful surgery on his torn right rotator cuff, trainer Freddie Roach says he’s interested in seeing a rematch between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2016 if Mayweather decides to stage a comeback. I don’t think it would matter if Pacquiao is 100 percent healthy or not for a second fight against Mayweather.

The problem is Pacquiao doesn’t handle movement very well, and he’s too crude with the way he attacks his opponents. He’s still very primitive with the way he comes forward, and you can’t fight like that against a guy like Mayweather unless you’re built like a tank.

Marcos Maidana was able to walk Mayweather does because he was so big and strong in their first fight. Pacquiao doesn’t have Maidana’s size or power, so he won’t be able to do that no matter how healthy he is

Roach believes Mayweather will be coming back at some point in pursuit of his 50th win of his career. Roach doesn’t believe Mayweather will stay retired because he sees him wanting to make more money, and also winning his 50th fight.

Roach also doesn’t believe Pacquiao will retire after his fight in April. He sees him fighting for another two years beyond that until he’s voted into the presidency of the Philippines. Even then, Roach sees Pacquiao fighting while holding down the presidency.

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“Bob [Arum] called me and gave me four names, and I called Manny about the four names and he said ‘When I come to America, we’ll sit down and decide who I’ll fight next,’’ Roach said to Fighthub. “He [Pacquiao] didn’t want to do it over the phone. I said ‘Fine, when I see you, we’ll make a decision.’ It’s a lot easier fight [Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford] to make, of course. I still think Mayweather, if he’s [Pacquiao] 100 percent healthy, I’d like to see how that really go. I’d like to see if he’s 100 percent healthy for Mayweather,” Roach said.

If Mayweather doesn’t come back in early 2016, then Roach, Pacquiao and likely Arum will all make a decision about who to fight for April based on the four names that Arum gave him. Roach admitted that Top Rank fighter Terence Crawford is a strong candidate due to him being with Top Rank, and the fight being easier for Arum to make. Roach didn’t say who the other candidates are for Pacquiao, but the names that have been mentioned are:

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1. Terence Crawford

2. Tim Bradley

3. Amir Khan

4. Juan Manuel Marquez

Khan would seem to be the long shot because he’s not with Top Rank, and Arum seems to like to match Pacquiao against fighters in his own stable for obvious reasons. Marquez has already said he’s not interested in fighting Pacquiao again, but they keep mentioning his name because he would be the best money fight of the bunch if Mayweather doesn’t choose to fight Pacquiao again. Khan would be the second best money fight of the bunch, but I think Arum isn’t interested in him because he might want more money than Crawford and Bradley, and it wouldn’t help Top Rank and Arum long term in the same way it would if Crawford or Bradley fought Pacquiao.



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