By Rick Reeno

Wynn, Las Vegas - Freddie Roach, trainer for eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38KOs), is very confident in his fighter's ability to outbox WBO junior middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (48-1-1, 34KOs).

Provided Pacquiao is successful in his upcoming return, Roach wants to get him the biggest fight possible in 2017 - and he views Canelo as the perfect candidate.

Roach was a very interested observer when welterweight contender Amir Khan moved up to a catch-weight of 155-pounds to challenge Canelo in May of this year. Roach trained Khan for several years and used him on more than one occasion as a sparring partner for Pacquiao. Roach has several versions of what exactly happened in those sparring battles, but he claims Pacquiao had Khan down and out in more than one session.

In analyzed Canelo-Khan, Roach was very impressed with Khan's ability to score and outbox the bigger fighter in the early rounds. However, Khan left himself wide open in sixth, and Canelo cracked him with a picture-perfect shot for a brutal knockout. At the time of that knockout, Roach had Khan winning all five of the previous rounds.

Khan's performance convinced Roach that Pacquaio, who is a better fighter, can use his speed and movement to box his way to a big win.

The only thing that worries Roach is Canelo's ability to rehydrate by more than twenty-pounds after the weigh-in. If the fight was ever up for serious discussion, Roach would absolutely demand a rehdyration clause which regulates Canelo's weight on the morning of the fight.

"I think Manny can outbox him. Obviously he's a good puncher, but I think like Amir Khan beat him for the first five rounds and then just got caught.... he made an amateur mistake. I think Manny is better than that. With him, you just have to put a cap on.... on what he can weigh after the weigh-in. He does get very big, over twenty pounds and so forth, and you have to keep him at a certain range to be fair," Roach said.