By Chris Williams: The Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s) gravy train could potentially come to a screeching halt this Saturday night if he loses to undefeated Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s).
Pacquiao has already had four consecutive less than spectacular outings and his last one against Juan Manuel Marquez was good enough for him to deserve a big ‘L’ on his record but two of the judges thought Pacquiao well enough to win.
Roach told the Associated Press “If he [Pacquiao] looks bad, he retires. At least I’ll tell him to, And he may be the first one to listen to me.”
I don’t think for a second that Pacquiao will retire if he gets beaten by Bradley, even if he really does listen to Roach and like the idea. The problem is Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum will likely resist the idea of his biggest money maker hanging up his gloves permanently, I can see him persuading Pacquiao to fight on, albeit against his beatable Top Rank stable fighters.
If Arum puts Pacquiao on the easy road of facing one after another of his Top Rank fighters, Arum might be able to drag Pacquiao’s career out for another three years. Look what Arum did with Miguel Cotto. After he got whipped by Antonio Margarito and Pacquiao, Arum put Cotto on easy street for the next two years, matching him against one easy opponent after another until Cotto eventually left Top Rank and was immediately beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his first fight away from Top Ran.
Roach isn’t too worried about Bradley beating the money man Pacquia, saying to AP “Manny should eat him up…I think Manny should look really good in this fight.”
Yeah, like he looked great in his last fight against Marquez. Pacquiao was supposed to look good against the 38-year-old Marquez and he looked the opposite of great. He looked terrible.’
Roach wants Pacquiao not to face Marquez after this Saturday’s fight. Instead, Roach prefers that he face former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios in what would be a fight that Pacquiao could probably win if he was 50. It looks like Roach is looking for an easy fight for Pacquiao if he’s able to get past Bradley.
It’s got to be a real downer for Roach if Pacquiao retires, because he’s very well paid by the Filipino fighter for each fight he works for him. I doubt there will be any Pacquiao-type fighters coming into Roach’s world that will pay as well Pacquiao did.
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