By Edward Chaykovsky
Veteran trainer Freddie Roach doesn't see any possibility that Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38KOs) will lose to Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23KOs) on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena in the Venetian Resort in Macau, China. If Pacquiao actually does lose, Roach will push him to retire. Rios, fighting at 147-pounds for the first time in his career, is looking for a war, and that is exactly what Roach wants. If Rios wants to bang away, Roach predicts pain and punishment will come his way.
"I've said that if Manny were to get knocked out in November, I would tell him to quit," said Roach to China Post. "But to put it bluntly, there's no way in the world Rios should beat him. None whatsoever. Rios is a banger, for sure, but he'll take his life in his hands if he wants to stand in front of Manny and trade punch for punch. But Manny has to show me more, too. Like he said, he has to win big. It has to be spectacular. He knows that."
"His work ethic is still the best, so I'm really looking forward to getting back to training camp. I'm his trainer, but I'm more his friend. I'm not going to let anything stand in the way of him having a tremendous performance in November."