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Manny Pacquiao Wants Floyd Mayweather Before Ricky Hatton, Says Freddie Roach
With Manny Pacquiao now firmly established as an international boxing superstar after his beatdown of Oscar De La Hoya, who will he fight next? Dan Rafael of ESPN thinks Ricky Hatton will come first, most likely in the spring, and that Floyd Mayweather will come only after that:
But Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, tells doghouseboxing.com that he wants Mayweather over Hatton.
From Roach's interview:
GM: How do you see that fight playing out? More of a chess match? Will it last all the way down? Or a knockout? Do you guys think you could knock out Floyd?
FR: You know, Floyd? He doesn't like pressure. One fight where I thought he lost was the fight with Castillo the first time. We'll pressure him. If he lays on the ropes with Pacquiao we'll beat the **** out of him on the ropes. He's not getting away with rolling the shoulders and so forth. We'll use our strength and out speed to deal with him. I know he's fast,also. But I think we go the upper hand on speed and I think we're a more powerful puncher. The only concern right now is the weight. I don't think we're going to fight at 147. Possibly, though. I'd like to fight at a catch weight of 143-144.
GM: Now if that fight doesn't materialize, what's your time line to get Manny back in the ring?
FR: I want him to take the whole month of December off. We're going to start back in training in January. So we want to fight by the end of March.
GM: Now if you can't get Mayweather, would Hatton still be an option for you?
FR: He's definitely an option but you know, he's definitely second to Floyd. You know Bradley's an option. He's been making some noise. He's a champion. Manny told me he wants to collect some belts at 140. So we'll see.
I sure hope it works out for Mayweather and Pacquiao to fight. Those are the two best boxers in the world. But if Pacquiao wants to get back in the ring again in March, Mayweather isn't going to be ready by then. It might just be the American WBC light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
With Manny Pacquiao now firmly established as an international boxing superstar after his beatdown of Oscar De La Hoya, who will he fight next? Dan Rafael of ESPN thinks Ricky Hatton will come first, most likely in the spring, and that Floyd Mayweather will come only after that:
But Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, tells doghouseboxing.com that he wants Mayweather over Hatton.
From Roach's interview:
GM: How do you see that fight playing out? More of a chess match? Will it last all the way down? Or a knockout? Do you guys think you could knock out Floyd?
FR: You know, Floyd? He doesn't like pressure. One fight where I thought he lost was the fight with Castillo the first time. We'll pressure him. If he lays on the ropes with Pacquiao we'll beat the **** out of him on the ropes. He's not getting away with rolling the shoulders and so forth. We'll use our strength and out speed to deal with him. I know he's fast,also. But I think we go the upper hand on speed and I think we're a more powerful puncher. The only concern right now is the weight. I don't think we're going to fight at 147. Possibly, though. I'd like to fight at a catch weight of 143-144.
GM: Now if that fight doesn't materialize, what's your time line to get Manny back in the ring?
FR: I want him to take the whole month of December off. We're going to start back in training in January. So we want to fight by the end of March.
GM: Now if you can't get Mayweather, would Hatton still be an option for you?
FR: He's definitely an option but you know, he's definitely second to Floyd. You know Bradley's an option. He's been making some noise. He's a champion. Manny told me he wants to collect some belts at 140. So we'll see.
I sure hope it works out for Mayweather and Pacquiao to fight. Those are the two best boxers in the world. But if Pacquiao wants to get back in the ring again in March, Mayweather isn't going to be ready by then. It might just be the American WBC light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.
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