By Keith Idec
Yes, you’ve read some of this before every Manny Pacquiao fight since 2010.
This time, though, Freddie Roach has a very specific reason why he thinks Manny Pacquiao will knock out his upcoming opponent. The International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer thinks Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) must knock out Jessie Vargas (27-1, 10 KOs) on Saturday night at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas ($64.95 in HD) to generate more interest in a rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017.
Pacquiao hasn’t won by knockout or TKO in the 11 fights since he stopped Miguel Cotto in the 12th round of their November 2009 fight in Las Vegas.
“He’s been more explosive in training,” Roach told BoxingScene.com. “He’s been showing me a lot of the old Manny Pacquiao. And he looked a lot better in his last fight [against Timothy Bradley on April 9] than he has in a while. I can see him knocking Vargas out. He’s a young kid, he’s not a big puncher and I think Manny can walk right through him. If he wants a rematch with Mayweather, he’s gonna have to fight like that.”
Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs), who’ll turn 40 in February, retired following his September 2015 defeat of Andre Berto. Roach is among those within the boxing industry convinced, however, that Mayweather wants to come back for another lucrative fight against the Filipino superstar he trains.
Their excessively hyped May 2015 fight infuriated many hardcore and casual boxing fans because it lacked action and Pacquiao cited a shoulder injury sustained during training as one of the primary reasons for Mayweather winning their 12-round fight comfortably. A rematch is unlikely to generate more than $600 milllion in overall revenue or draw 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, but it still would produce more money in purses and profit than any other boxing match that can be made next year.
Those financial factors are what, above all else, make Roach believe Pacquiao, who’ll turn 38 on December 17, and Mayweather will meet again.
“I do think it will happen,” Roach said. “There’s a lot of money on the table still. I don’t think they’ll walk away from that. The first fight was very controversial and I still think we won the first fight. And we’ll beat him much more impressively in the second fight.”
Roach, who previously has said Mayweather won, is well aware many skeptics don’t think a Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch will materialize. He asked them an interesting question.
“Why did he come to my gym two times in the past couple months?,” Roach asked. “He’s fishing around for something. I think he’s looking for Manny Pacquiao. Floyd, if you wanna come find him now, he’s here.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
