Pacquiao May Target Mosley-Berto Winner, Says Roach

By Mark Vester

Trainer Freddie Roach has had enough with the demands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. He is already preparing the strategy for Manny Pacquiao's next opponent, former welterweight champion Joshua Clottey. Pacquiao will defend his WBO welterweight title against Clottey on March 13 in Texas. If Pacquuao gets past Clottey, Roach would like to target the winner of the upcoming welterweight unification between WBC champion Andre Berto and WBA champion Shane Mosley on January 30.

"If you concede to whatever Mayweather wants, that's giving him an edge," Roach told the Los Angeles Times. "We're bigger than Mayweather. We don't need him. We don't work for him. So, the way I feel now, we'll go fight Clottey, then we'll fight the winner of Mosley and Berto."

The winner could be tough to get either way. Berto is managed by Al Haymon, who is also the business manager for Mayweather. He would likely request random Olympic style drug tests unless Berto says otherwise. The same type of demands that killed the negotiations for a Mayeather-Pacquiao fight. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer has already put on the record that Mosley would likely demand the same type of Olympic style random drug tests if a Pacquiao fight came about.

Roach is not looking past Clottey. He sees him as a very tough opponent.

"It'll be a tough fight, not an easy fight, but better than some of the other names that were being thrown around," Roach said.

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com