By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach says his fighter Manny Pacquiao badly wants the bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and that Roach is hoping that Mayweather was serious recently when he said that Pacquiao will be next after his September fight against WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz.
Speaking with ESPN, Roach said “We want that fight badly. We agreed to everything he asked for the last time and nothing happened. Is it just talk or is it action?”
Pacquiao didn’t agree to the random blood tests with the 14 day cut off that Mayweather asked for last year before Pacquiao’s fight with Joshua Clottey, so it’s hard to tell what Roach is talking about when he says that they agreed to everything that Mayweather asked for. He might as well forget about a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight if Pacquiao doesn’t agree to the random blood tests for the fight because that’s a given. Mayweather won’t accept no blood testing for the last 3 1/2 weeks before the fight. If Pacquiao wants the fight, he’s likely going to have to accept the full random blood testing this time without a 14 day cut off.
Roach thinks that Mayweather could have problems beating southpaw Victor Ortiz in September, saying that Mayweather has problems with southpaw opponents. However, one would have to ask is why didn’t Pacquiao face Ortiz if Roach is so high on him? Pacquiao recently beat a shot 39-year-old Shane Mosley, who Ortiz would likely thrash if given the chance. Before that, Pacquiao beat what a lot of boxing fans think was a shot Antonio Margarito. Why did Pacquiao face Margarito rather than a young lion like Ortiz? Mayweather is showing a lot of courage by stepping up to the plate and facing one of the best young fighters in boxing with Ortiz, while Pacquiao is beating up on Mosley, Margarito and is about to take on 38-year-old lightweight Juan Manuel Marquez two divisions above Marquez’s weight class at welterweight.
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