By Chris Williams: At the recent Paulie Malignaggi and Amir Khan press conference, trainer Freddie Roach made a startling revelation when he said that his fighter WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan has better hand speed and foot speed than World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Roach was quick to point out that he didn’t believe that Khan could hit as hard as Pacquiao, only that Khan was faster. For a lot of boxing fans of the sport, they believe that Pacquiao is the faster fighter in boxing.
And to have Roach say that he believes that Khan is faster than Pacquiao, it’s interesting to learn. Roach would obviously know who the faster fighter is because he trains both Pacquiao and Khan and has seen them in action in the ring. Pacquiao recently defeated Joshua Clottey last weekend at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
Pacquiao won almost every round in a lopsided 12 round decision over Clottey. However, Pacquiao looked slower than he normally is and seemed to look heavier than usual. I can’t ever remember seeing Pacquiao look so sluggish before in a fight. He looked like someone who was carrying around too much weight and it was slowing him down. And in between rounds, Pacquiao looked old to me, laboring for breath and looking all beaten up.
And the tired look to his face seemed beyond just fatigue. He just looked like an elderly, aging person to me. I think Pacquiao needs to lose some weight, because he’s starting to look kind of slow now. Maybe he should retire. I don’t want to see Pacquiao keep fighting and end up getting badly beaten up by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley. I think Pacquiao loses to both of those fighters right now.
Those guys are fast, energetic and natural welterweights. They move well for the weight and are able to get around the ring remarkably well. Pacquiao looked like a mini tank on Saturday. He wasn’t moving well at all. I think this is about as high a weight that Pacquiao can go before he starts getting beaten up regularly.
I hope they don’t throw him in weight light welterweight, because I think Pacquiao will look like a blister bag if he gains any more weight. When short fighter’s bulk up like Pacquiao is doing, they look like little tanks. I don’t mean that in a good way either. They’re okay when they don’t move a lot, but if they get put in with a fighter that uses a lot of lateral movement, the short fighter generally has a lot of problems because they have to carry that extra weight around with their small frames.
Pacquiao should move back down to lightweight, lose some that useless muscle he’s put on recently, stop eating so much and focus on fighting guys like Edwin Valero. That’s a great fight. Pacquiao doesn’t need Mayweather or Mosley to define his career and he also doesn’t need the money from those fights. I think he’ll lose to both of those guys, so why even bother.
Pacquiao should just move back down, fight a couple of fights and then retire before he sticks around too long and starts getting beaten up. Clottey pounded Pacquiao a little last Saturday, especially with his big uppercuts. During the replay, it was sad to see Pacquiao’s head getting snapped back again and again by Clottey’s uppercuts. I thought for a second there that Pacquiao was going to snap off during one of them because his head whip lashed violently, lifting upwards towards the rough. It was a good thing for Pacquiao that Clottey didn’t throw a lot of punches during the fight, because I don’t know that Pacquiao would have made it to the final bell.
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