By Terence Dooley
Freddie Roach has no time to sit on his laurels, the red-hot coach guided Manny Pacquiao to an impressive shutout win over Joshua Clottey on Saturday night and is now looking towards Amir Khan’s WBA light-welterweight title defence against Paulie Malignaggi in New York on May the 15th.
Roach, though, could have had an even greater burden on his hands. “I've just asked one of my fighters Gerry Penalosa, to retire. You can't lie to your fighters. When I was over in England last December with Amir, Ricky Hatton wanted me to work with him, and wondered if we could get together,” revealed Roach when speaking to Gareth A. Davies of The Daily Telegraph.
“If he wanted to fight Amir Khan, that's one thing. But I couldn't train Ricky. I said I think he should retire. He's washed up. If he continues fighting, he's [Ricky] going to jeopardise his health. I would not want to be a part of that.”
Hatton is rumoured to be on the cusp of retirement. Indeed, an announcement regarding his future should be made later this week. Other sources, however, claim that Hatton is eager to go out with win rather than a whimper and is set to have a comeback fight here in Manchester on June the 26th, which could tie in with England’s final 16 game should they win Group C.
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