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By Chris Williams: After many years of training Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs), Freddie Roach says he may give the Filipino fighter the boot if he doesn’t show him something in his next fight in early 2016.
Roach, 55, doesn’t believe in keeping his fighters when they no longer have the goods to get the job done. If Roach doesn’t think his fighters have it anymore, he’s willing to tell it to them straight rather than keeping them around and watching them take punishment.
As the boxing world already knows, Pacquiao was whipped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his last fight in May, and needless to say Pacquiao looked horrible. We heard the shoulder excuse mentioned after the fight, and presumably that was the reason why he was so badly outclassed by Mayweather. But with Roach now saying that he might stop training the 36-year-old Filipino star if he doesn’t show him something in his next fight, it looks like Roach has some doubts whether Pacquiao still has it.
“Speed is a great thing to have, but sometimes when you get a little older you slow down a bit,” Roach said to ***************. “Manny has to really show me something in his next fight for me to continue with him. Even though he got injured in that fight [against Floyd Mayweather Jr.], I don’t think he fought his best fight. I’d like to see him fight a better fight than that. That’s why I’d like to see a rematch, because I’d like to see one more time if he can do well in that fight. But for us to get a rematch, we’d have to beat someone with a name and be impressive in doing it,” Roach said.
It may sound bad that Roach could dump Pacquiao after his next fight, we’re still only talking about Roach missing his final fight of career in the second half of 2016. Pacquiao will likely retire after his contract with Top Rank expires at the end of next year rather than re-upping yet again. Roach didn’t start talking about giving Pacquiao the booth after he was knocked cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, but that’s probably when Roach should have started talking about dumping him.
Pacquiao has fought only one good fighter in the last three years in Mayweather, and he easily beat him. The rest of the guys that Pacquiao fought were beatable fighters like Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri. I rate those guys as the 2nd tier of the top fighters. I think Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Errol Spence would all defeat those three guys. I think Pacquiao has really been surviving on the match-making that his promoter Bob Arum has been doing for him rather than on him beating good fighters.
If Pacquiao fights Khan or Kell Brook in his next fight in 2016, I see him losing to both of those guys. If Roach carries out his threat of sending Pacquiao packing, I wonder who will wind up training the Filipino fighter. Will it be his current assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez? That would be really interesting having Buboy as Pacquiao’s lead trainer for his final fight of his career in 2016. I think it could be a real disaster like Custer’s last stand with Pacquiao getting routed by someone like Terence Crawford.
I think Pacquiao should take the Kahn route and get away from Roach. This is the perfect example of biting the hand that feeds you.
Roach, 55, doesn’t believe in keeping his fighters when they no longer have the goods to get the job done. If Roach doesn’t think his fighters have it anymore, he’s willing to tell it to them straight rather than keeping them around and watching them take punishment.
As the boxing world already knows, Pacquiao was whipped by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his last fight in May, and needless to say Pacquiao looked horrible. We heard the shoulder excuse mentioned after the fight, and presumably that was the reason why he was so badly outclassed by Mayweather. But with Roach now saying that he might stop training the 36-year-old Filipino star if he doesn’t show him something in his next fight, it looks like Roach has some doubts whether Pacquiao still has it.
“Speed is a great thing to have, but sometimes when you get a little older you slow down a bit,” Roach said to ***************. “Manny has to really show me something in his next fight for me to continue with him. Even though he got injured in that fight [against Floyd Mayweather Jr.], I don’t think he fought his best fight. I’d like to see him fight a better fight than that. That’s why I’d like to see a rematch, because I’d like to see one more time if he can do well in that fight. But for us to get a rematch, we’d have to beat someone with a name and be impressive in doing it,” Roach said.
It may sound bad that Roach could dump Pacquiao after his next fight, we’re still only talking about Roach missing his final fight of career in the second half of 2016. Pacquiao will likely retire after his contract with Top Rank expires at the end of next year rather than re-upping yet again. Roach didn’t start talking about giving Pacquiao the booth after he was knocked cold by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, but that’s probably when Roach should have started talking about dumping him.
Pacquiao has fought only one good fighter in the last three years in Mayweather, and he easily beat him. The rest of the guys that Pacquiao fought were beatable fighters like Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios and Chris Algieri. I rate those guys as the 2nd tier of the top fighters. I think Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Errol Spence would all defeat those three guys. I think Pacquiao has really been surviving on the match-making that his promoter Bob Arum has been doing for him rather than on him beating good fighters.
If Pacquiao fights Khan or Kell Brook in his next fight in 2016, I see him losing to both of those guys. If Roach carries out his threat of sending Pacquiao packing, I wonder who will wind up training the Filipino fighter. Will it be his current assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez? That would be really interesting having Buboy as Pacquiao’s lead trainer for his final fight of his career in 2016. I think it could be a real disaster like Custer’s last stand with Pacquiao getting routed by someone like Terence Crawford.
I think Pacquiao should take the Kahn route and get away from Roach. This is the perfect example of biting the hand that feeds you.
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