Roach to speak with Pacquiao about Canelo fight

By Boxing News - 05/31/2016 - Comments

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By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach still hasn’t given up on his star fighter Manny Pacquiao making a comeback in the near future for one last fight. Pacquiao has already said that he’s probably not going to come back to the sport to resume his career unless he misses it. What makes a comeback unlikely is Pacquiao being elected into the senate in the Philippines last May.

Pacquiao is now a senator in his home country, and he’s got huge responsibilities that go with this job. Roach wants to get Pacquiao to come back for a fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Roach says the fight with Canelo was offered to him, and he want to see what Pacquiao thinks about it when they meet each face to face in the future.

Just when that conversation will happen is anyone’s guess. Roach could hurry things up if he flew over to the Philippines and tracked Pacquiao down at his home or at one his political events.

“The way he trained in that last fight. He had such a good training camp, and the way he fought his last fight,” said Roach to Fighthub about how good Pacquiao looked for the Bradley fight. “I think he does have one or two more fights left in him. I would say Floyd [Pacquiao could come back for that fight]. Canelo, I was offered. We didn’t say no. I know he’s [Canelo] big and strong, but he’s [Pacquiao] much more disciplined than Amir Khan can be. Manny Pacquiao can fight disciplined for 12 rounds. I didn’t say no to the fight yet. It’s definitely a possibility, but I’m going to have to sit down with Manny face to face for that one. Bob [Arum] asked me [about Pacquiao fighting Canelo], and I think it’s definitely a possibility. He [Pacquiao] came close the first time [to beating Mayweather]. He had a bad shoulder. I’m not crying about it. That’s the reason why I think Manny has one fight left in him because of the way he trained for the last fight. It was one of the best training camps we ever had. I saw a little bit of the old Manny back, and I like that a lot,” said Roach.

Roach is probably wasting his time thinking about Pacquiao making a comeback to fight a hulking bruiser like Canelo Alvarez. I don’t think it’s going to happen. Pacquiao could be giving up probably 25 pounds to the 175lb Canelo, and he could get hurt by the Mexican fighter. That would look really bad for Pacquiao getting knocked out in his final fight by Canelo, and then having to come back home a loser rather than a winner.

With the way things are right now, Pacquiao won his last fight of his career against Tim Bradley last April. Pacquiao got out of the sport on a winning note. Yes, it was a fight that wasn’t needed. Yes, few boxing fans wanted to see a third fight between them, but Pacquiao still won. That’s a lot better than if Pacquiao came back now and got pulverized by Canelo. Fighting someone 25 pounds heavier like Canelo would put Pacquiao in an impossible situation.