By Chris Williams: Once again, trainer Freddie Roach is taking it upon himself to pump up interest in the November 13th title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito to tell Dan Rafael of ESPN how terrible a fighter Margarito is and how he stands no chance of beating Pacquiao next month. In other words, more of the same things that Roach has been beating his gums about for the past two months. It makes you wonder why Margarito was chosen for Pacquiao, if Roach thinks Margarito is such a terrible fighter. I mean, you see Pacquiao being matched up with vulnerable guys coming off of terrible beatings and then Roach is crowing about how Pacquiao is going to batter them.

If they’re so terrible, why doesn’t Roach act as an advocate and talk to Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum into putting him in with someone that he feels is a real threat, like maybe Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams, James Kirkland or Dmitriy Pirog. I’m not holding my breath on any of those fights happening in this lifetime. At any rate, Roach, speaking with Dan Rafael, had this to say about Margarito: “[Margarito] doesn’t impress me. He has terrible footwork. He has too many flaws to beat Manny.” And Roach is just now finding this out? Isn’t this the primary reason why Margarito was selected for Pacquiao?

Instead of complaining about it, Roach should be happy because it will Pacquiao a better chance to keep the gravy train going for a little while longer and Roach will keep getting his hefty paydays to train Pacquiao for each fight. Goodness knows, if Pacquiao was matched against the best fighter in the junior middleweight division Sergeii Dzinziruk, Pacquiao would be eating jabs all night long and steadily swelling up as each round goes by. At least with Margarito, he doesn’t use his height advantage and instead stands next to his shorter opponents trying to overwhelm them with punches. Sometimes it works, like when Margarito stopped Miguel Cotto in the 11th round in July 2008, and sometimes it doesn’t , like when Margarito was stopped in the 9th round by Shane Mosley last year.

Roach is gloating about his fighter Pacquiao, saying “He’s a freak. Let’s face it. We’re not going to see another Manny Pacquiao in our lifetime. He’s a once in a lifetime deal.” Oh brother, put in a sock in it, man. Pacquiao is good, but I see fighters in the light welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight divisions that could beat Pacquiao. I think Pacquiao is good at beating stationary fighters, the ones that have been fed to him, but I don’t see Pacquiao beating a fighter that can move and box. I see him losing every time. However, you do notice that Pacquiao is never matched against those types of fighters and there’s a reason for it – he’d likely lose badly. Timothy Bradley, Martinez, Dzinziruk, Pirog, Floyd Mayweather, Paul Williams and Zab Judah would all likely beat Pacquiao.