By Allan Fox: Trainer Freddie Roach thinks Manny Pacquiao will walk right through Vasyl Lomachenko if the Ukrainian fighter tries to play around inside the ring with him like he did in his fight against Miguel Marriaga.
Roach wasn’t impressed with all the playing around that Lomachenko did against Marriaga, and he thinks he’d be taken apart by Pacquiao if he tried that stuff with him.
Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) surprised a lot of boxing fans recently when he turned down a fight against Pacquiao. Lomachenko felt that he wouldn’t get credit for beating the 39-year-old Pacquiao because he’s an old man now. However, Lomachenko was fine with fighting a guy that was 2 divisions smaller than him in Guillermo Rigondeaux in his last fight in December. Lomachenko had no problems fighting Rigondeaux, but all of a sudden he’s grown a conscience about fighting someone that he wouldn’t get full credit if he were to beat him in Pacquiao.
“If he plays around with Manny Pacquiao, Pacquiao will walk through him,” Roach said to Fighthub. “Lomachenko has great footwork, but a tough guy can walk right through him. I think he’s beatable. Certain guys gave good styles to beat him. That’s why I won’t call him the #1 pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, because I think Crawford is a much more complete fighter,” Roach said.
Pacquiao’s speed, size and punching power would give Lomachenko all kinds of problems. Pacquiao lost his last fight against Jeff Horn last July, but that’s a big welterweight, who some feel rehydrates to the 170s for his fights. Horn looked a lot bigger than Pacquiao during their fight last summer in Brisbane, Australia. Horn used his size to rough Pacquiao up, and the referee turned didn’t do anything to stop him. It looked like Pacquiao was being mugged in broad daylight in front of a huge crowd and an official inside the ring. Lomachenko doesn’t have the size to rough Pacquiao up, and he’s not going to do use those tactics.
Lomachenko’s promoter Bob Arum recently said that he’s better than the late Muhammad Ali was during his career. Arum has been working hard in trying to make Lomachenko a star, and it appears that going overboard about his talent is one way he’s trying to accomplish that. Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions doesn’t agree with Arum about Lomachenko being better than Ali was.
“Arum said what? Muhammad Ali?” Hopkins said to Fighthub. ”Bob Arum said that?! How old is Arum now? Yeah, I think it’s kicking in. He said Ali?! Age is kicking in. See, you know, I haven’t got there yet but, I might look good and all that stuff and I feel good — by no means, I don’t feel bad — but I damn sure don’t feel like I was when I was 30,” Hopkins said.
Lomachenko (10-1 8 KOs) has already been beaten by Orlando Salido, and he’s not matched against anyone that would give him a lot of trouble since then. Lomachenko had the weight in his favor in his fight against super bantamweight Guillermo Rigondeaux. Lomachenko has been slow in moving up to lightweight. Mikey Garcia wanted to fight Lomachenko 2 years ago, and he’s still waiting. Lomachenko is a good fighter, but he definitely isn’t in the same class as Ali when he was at his best and still using his Cassius Clay name.
