By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach say that he wants his fighter WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto to fight one more guy after his fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next year, and that’s a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Cotto would then retire after those two fights without facing Gennady Golovkin. As far as Cotto’s next fight on December 13th, Roach said Andy Lee or James Kirkland is two of the names they’re looking at.
By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach says his fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) is prepared to fight WBA/WBC 147 pound champ Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) at whatever weight of his choosing.
Roach is so confident of the 35-year-old Pacquiao’s skills that he’s ready to agree to whatever weight that Mayweather wants to for the fight. Considering that Mayweather is pretty much a welterweight and would likely only want to fight at whatever weight Pacquiao is comfortable with, it really isn’t a big deal that Roach is willing to agree to Mayweather’s wishes on the weight for a mega-fight between the two fighters.
By Chris Williams: With WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) getting ready to fight light welterweight Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs), a fighter largely unknown by casual boxing fans, Pacquiao, his trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum are all suddenly talking about wanting a Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr fight in 2015.
The timing seems very odd to me. These guys could have been talking up a Mayweather fight before Pacquiao’s scheduled fight with Algieri. But with Mayweather’s name being dropped left and right by Pacquiao, Arum and Roach, it gives one the impression that they’re name dropping Mayweather’s name in order to create more interest – and more pay-per-view buys – for Pacquiao’s fight against the little known Algieri.
By Raj Parmar: With news of a potential 2015 showdown between Floyd Mayweather (46-0, 26 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) in full force, both Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach have spoken out about how they feel about the fight.
Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum has regularly been mentioning the possibility of the fight occurring next year during Pacquiao’s promotional tour for his welterweight title defense against Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KO’s), and both Manny and Freddie have weighed in on all the talk surrounding the possibility of the two ring titans finally meeting each other in the ring.
“Of course, I want this fight,” Pacquiao said to sfchronicle.com, “People have always been bothering me, ‘When is this fight going to happen?’ … ‘When is this fight going to happen?’ I am ready to fight Floyd anytime.”
By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach says it’s a waste of time for his fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) to be waiting around to try and get a fight against the biggest arguably the biggest money maker in the sport of boxing in WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs).
Roach says they’ve done all they could to try and make a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight take place, but it never did.
By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach is pretty confident that his fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) will be able to land his shots against defensive artist Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) in their fight on November 22nd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.
Roach also predicting a knockout for Pacquiao in this fight despite the fact that he hasn’t knocked anyone out in 5 years. Roach is still faithfully predicting knockouts each time 35-year-old Pacquiao fights, and the Algieri fight is no exception.
It’s pretty clear that there won’t be a knockout in this fight. Roach obviously is predicting knockouts like he always does, but there’s no way that Pacquiao with his short 35-year-old legs is going to be able to catch up to Algieri often enough to score a knockout in this fight.
By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Freddie Roach is thinking of taking over as the trainer for former IBF super middleweight champion Luician Bute (31-2, 24 KOs). Roach needs to find time to work with the 34-year-old Bute.
That’s the only question, whether Roach has time to work with the Canadian based fighter. Bute met with Roach recently to discuss him taking over as his trainer.
By T.B: According to ESPN’s Dan Rafael Hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach has no problem with a Miguel Cotto vs Gennady “GGG” Golovkin fight. This coming on the heels of GGG’s “calling out” of Cotto after his KO win over game but completely out classed Daniel Geale.
Roach was in NY with his fighter Glen Tapia for an undercard bout which ended up getting canceled. Instead of packing up and heading home Roach turned the trip into a “scouting” trip.
Roach was in the crowd at Madison Square Garden and came away impressed but not so impressed that he was scared off a possible Cotto vs GGG fight in the future. Roach said a GGG fight is second on his list behind a proposed super fight with Canelo Alvarez which would take place on Cinco De Mayo weekend 2015. When asked Roach said,” I like the Canelo fight better, but I like a fight with GGG second”. I’m assuming By second Roach means as an alternative to Canelo if negotiations fall through, or second as in after the Canelo fight.
By Dan Ambrose: WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach says that for a fight between Cotto and WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to take place it require that Golovkin come down to 154 because Roach thinks that Golovkin is too big and strong at 160 for Cotto, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
Roach was at Golovkin’s fight against Daniel Geale last Saturday night and he came away from that fight impressed with Golovkin’s power but he still saw weakness areas that he thinks Cotto could exploit. Roach thinks Golovkin has defensive problems, and he thinks he’s been fighting middle of the road guys.
By Chris Williams: Dan Rafael of ESPN believes that WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach, who was at the fight last Saturday night to scout out WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin as a potential opponent for Cotto, will go back to Cotto and tell him that it’s a great idea for him to fight Golovkin next in December.
Indeed, Rafael sees Roach choosing not to give Cotto the go ahead to take the fight with Golovkin due to the danger involved for him. It’s one thing Cotto beating up on a nearly 40-year-old man coming off of a 14 month layoff and 2 knee surgeries in Sergio Martinez, and it’s quite a different thing for Cotto to fight a live opponent in his prime in Golovkin.