By William Lloyd: Undisputed light welterweight champion Josh Taylor was quick to react to Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach saying he didn’t know who he was when asked during an interview on Friday about his thoughts on a potential Pacquiao-Taylor fight after tonight’s match with Yordenis Ugas.
Roach said to Behind The Gloves, “Who’s Josh Taylor?” It was Roach’s ham-handed way of dismissing the idea of his fighter Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) taking on the four-belt 140-lb undisputed champion Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) later this year.
Not surprisingly, Taylor, 30, feels Roach didn’t have to pretend he’d never heard of before, as it gave the impression that he viewed him as an unworthy opponent for Pacquiao.
Taylor would be an excellent option for Pacquiao and far better than tonight’s replacement Ugas (26-4, 12 KOs), who has four losses on his record and was elevated to WBA ‘Super World’ champion outside of the ring by the World Boxing Association.
Absolutely no need for the disrespect from Freddie roach, he knows fine well who I am. I have beaten him in the opposite & beat two of his former fighters after all. Wank stain !
— Josh Taylor (@JoshTaylorBoxer) August 21, 2021
In hindsight, Roach should have told the interviewer that the 42-year-old Pacquiao has his sights set on fighting Errol Spence Jr., Terence Crawford, or Mikey Garcia rather than pretending that he doesn’t know who Josh Taylor is.
Roach doesn’t have any interest in Pacquiao fighting Taylor, but he’s not saying who wants him to fight next, other than IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
The Pacquiao vs. Spence fight is doubtful because Spence may need a full year to recover from his torn left retinal eye injury. Pacquiao fighting Taylor would attract interest from all over the world, not just in the United States.
Taylor is coming off of a victory over Jose Ramirez last May in the undisputed 140-lb championship. Since that fight, there’s been talk from Top Rank about a match between WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford and Taylor.
But that fight likely won’t happen until 2022 or 2023, depending on whether Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum can set him up with a unification against Spence or Pacquiao.
“I think Manny’s IQ is a lot higher than Ugas’, but Ugas is no joke,” said former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz to the Mayweather Boxing Channel.
Pacquiao could lose tonight against Ugas if he’s gotten old since his last fight in 2019. Roach says Pacquiao has looked good in training for this fight, so he should be OK tonight.