By Eric Thomas: According to Sportsillustrated.cnn.com, trainer Freddie Roach believes that Manny Pacquiao should consider retirement after the Antonio Margarito bout on Saturday due to a lack of interesting opponents for Pacquiao. Roach has previously been open about wanting Pacquiao to get out of the sport at the top after a big money fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. But now that the Mayweather fight looks as if it may never happen, Roach thinks Pacquiao might be better off getting out sooner rather than later. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum believes just the opposite about Pacquiao, and wants him to continue fighting beyond the Margarito fight.
Arum says “Freddie has absolutely no idea what Manny is thinking. Absolutely no idea. Manny relies on Freddie for training, but he does not confide in Freddie as far as his future plans.” Ouch!
Arum would like to match Pacquiao up with one of for possible opponents next – Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez or the winner of the Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander bout.
Those are all interesting fights and ones that will bring big money for Pacquiao and Arum. I don’t know why Roach doesn’t see any appealing opponents out there for Pacquiao, because Bradley, Alexander, Marquez, Cotto and Mosley are all very interesting fights for Manny. If Pacquiao can bring in 700,000 pay per view buys against an almost totally unknown Joshua Clottey, then a fight against any one of those fighters is likely to bring in close, if not more, than 1 million PPV buys. That’s a very good reason for Pacquiao to continue fighting if you ask me.
Depending on how good Pacquiao looks against Margarito, there’s really no point in him getting out of the sport right now. I could understand it if Pacquiao was struggling and starting to get beaten but he’s still winning and only 31. If he sticks it out and fights those guys, Mayweather may get freed up from his legal problems and be available for a fight later on next year one would hope. Pacquiao will have a chance to create a real legacy if he’s able to beat these guys, Mayweather and maybe Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams before retiring.
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