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NEW YORK — Paulie Malignaggi has publicly accused Manny Pacquiao of taking performance-enhancing drugs for years.
The outspoken Brooklynite recently tweeted his belief that Pacquiao is faking a torn rotator cuff to excuse his loss to Floyd Mayweather. Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach has had enough.
“He is talking his way into a fight but I don’t want to give it to him,” Roach told a small group of reporters Tuesday. “Manny will kill him. Oh jeez, give me a break. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
Pacquiao suffered the injury in training for Mayweather before exacerbating the tear in Round 4 of their so-called Fight of the Century. The surgery was performed by renowned surgeon Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, and Roach said Pacquiao will return to America in 30 days to begin rehab.
Malignaggi, an analyst for Showtime and former two-division champ, hasn’t fought since a brutal 2014 loss to Shawn Porter, but was slated to return last week before suffering a cut over his eye. He trains with Eric Brown, who works out of Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club, but Malignaggi might not be returning to the Hollywood-based gym.
“He used to be a member of my gym, he used to be my friend, but the way he talks about my fighter, I don’t think he’s my friend anymore,” Roach said in frustration. “I take it personally, also. I told him don’t come to my gym.
“I told him, his trainer Eric Brown. I don’t want to tell (Malignaggi) face-to-face because I don’t want to get into a fight.”
Malignaggi, who competes at welterweight like Pacquiao, brushed off Roach’s comments and didn’t back off his stance in text messages to USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday.
“I haven’t trained at Wild Card since 2013, but the random drug-tested Pacquiao isn’t very scary at all,” Malignaggi wrote, adding that he maintains Pacquiao is faking the injury. “Suddenly, all his flaws become very obvious when he doesn’t have a ridiculous pace he can fight at that masked his countless flaws.
“Bring it on. Manny is home training right now, he’s not injured.”
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