Roach hopes Mayweather will return after Bradley for Pacquiao rematch

By Boxing News - 01/13/2016 - Comments

roach4By Chris Williams: Trainer Freddie Roach is looking forward to his fighter Manny Pacquiao’s next fight against WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Roach is hoping that if Pacquiao beats Bradley, Floyd Mayweather Jr. will want to come out of retirement to face Pacquiao in a second fight. That’s something that Roach wants, because he seems to believe that he can guide a healthy Pacquiao to victory in a second bout.

I don’t know why Mayweather would suddenly want to fight Pacquiao against just because he defeated Bradley yet again, but that’s how Roach sees it.

“It’ a good fight. It’s one to one. We have a rubber match,” Roach said to Fighthype about the Pacquiao vs. Bradley 3 fight on 4/9. “I thought Manny won the first one and the second one. That’s how it goes in boxing. He’s [Pacquiao] coming off of an injury and surgery. I think it’s a good fight for him. Hopefully, we’ll get someone [Mayweather] to come out of retirement after that. Crawford said no. Bob [Arum] said they won’t try Crawford yet. Crawford is too young for Manny. Crawford may be a future superstar, but he’s not that far yet. They’re still building him. Crawford may be someone down the line, but I don’t feel he’s ready for Manny yet,” Roach said.

It’s interesting that Roach is saying that Crawford turned down the Pacquiao fight, because I wasn’t aware that he had rejected an offer to fight him. I don’t know why Crawford would turn down a fight against Pacquiao when it would make him so much money and turn him into a superstar potentially. I can’t see Crawford turning down the Pacquiao fight, because it was so important for him to face in order to take his career to the next level. Why wouldn’t Crawford take the Pacquiao fight?

Pacquiao vs. Bradley is a good fight for someone coming off the type of injury that Pacquiao suffered recently with his torn right rotator cuff injury. However, Pacquiao has already fought Bradley twice, and it’s a fight that has been overplayed already. It’s too bad that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum doesn’t have a higher boss than him that could step and tell him when he’s making a mistake with his match-making, because this is clearly a case of the 84-year-old Arum playing a card that has already been played one time too many.

It doesn’t matter if Pacquiao beats Bradley for a third time, because it’s not going to be a fight where he’s covering new ground. Roach and Pacquiao wanted to lure Mayweather out of retirement with an impressive victory over someone, then they should have selected Terence Crawford, or some of the non-Top Rank fighters that the boxing fans would like to see Pacquiao fight.

When asked if he thinks that trainer Teddy Atlas can improve Bradley to change his fighting style, Roach said “[He’s] the same guy. I don’t think you’re going to change him after this much time, no,” Roach said about Bradley.



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