By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach says that Manny Pacquiao will be dropping down to 140 if he can’t negotiate a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr next.
Roach thinks that the top welterweights will follow the 36-year-old Pacquiao from the 147 pound division to fight him at 140. Roach thinks that by moving down to 140, Pacquiao will have more opponents to face, and will be a better fighter due to him being more suited to the weight class.
What Roach isn’t saying is how Pacquiao would have a built in catch-weight type situation if the top welterweights move down in weight seven pounds, because they’ll likely be weakened by the process of draining down, and this will likely help the aging Pacquiao.
“If Manny goes to 140, a lot of those 147 pound guys are going to come down to 140 because that’s where the money is,” Roach said via Thaboxingvoice.com.
Roach doesn’t say who all “those 147 pound guys” are and why Pacquiao isn’t fighting them now that he’s at 147. Why would Pacquiao need to move down to 140 in order to fight those 147 pound guys? Is it a situation where they don’t want to fight them unless they drain down to 140? It doesn’t really make sense.
There really aren’t big names that Pacquiao can fight at welterweight other than Mayweather. It’s doubtful that Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum will let him fight Amir Khan. Pacquiao can fight guys like Kell Brook, but that’s pretty much it. Guys like Marcos Maidana, Keith Thurman and Khan are with Haymon. The same goes for Danny Garcia at 140. He’s with Haymon too.
Roach badly wants Pacquiao to fight Garcia, but that’s just not going to happen. If Pacquiao moves down to 140, he’s going to be faced with the ugly reality of being stuck fighting guys like Jessie Vargas, Terence Crawford, Ruslan Provodnikov, Chris Algieri, Mike Alvarado and Thomas Dulorme. Those are good ESPN level scraps, but definitely not big pay-per-view events.
I don’t know that Roach is seeing things too clearly with him being excited about Pacquiao moving down in weight. The only reason for Roach to get excited about Pacquiao moving down to 140 is that he won’t have to take as much punishment as he was at welterweight, and that he might be able to extend his career a little longer due to the poor opposition he’ll be fighting in that weight class.
That’s ultimately a good thing for Roach because he’s paid really well for each fights he trains Pacquiao, even if it’s against over-matched opposition like Algieri and Brandon Rios.
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