Freddie Roach the legendary boxing trainer best known for his long working relationship with WBA welterweight champion Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao is eager to get the champ back in the gym to prepare for their next fight together.
Roach was being interviewed by YouTube boxing reporter Little Giant Boxing at the Wild Card boxing club in Hollywood, CA when he recalled fond memories of working with the Filipino southpaw who first stumbled into his gym in 2001.
Roach still believes Pacquiao is capable at the age of 41 to compete against the top guys, and they are not in boxing just to take on easy fights, they only want to fight the best.
“Maybe one or two more fights, we really don’t know when its going to end because Manny’s work ethic is still really good,” said Freddie Roach on how many more fights Pacquiao has left in him.
“There are world champions right now that I feel he [Pacquiao] can still beat. The thing is we just don’t wanna be in boxing, we want to be a competitive fighter in boxing and that is what me and Manny talked about for a long time. We don’t wanna just fight anybody and beat up nobodies. We wanna fight real fights that are meaningful to the world.
If Roach had his way, he would want former two-division world champion Danny Garcia to be Pacquiao’s next opponent over undefeated welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr..
“In his next fight, I would like him to fight Danny Garcia, that is my number one pick for Pacquiao,” said Roach.
The hall of fame trainer said he wouldn’t want Pacquiao to face unified IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. yet because he is coming off a real bad car accident and he feels people will just discredit Pacquiao if he wins the fight.
“Well I said it’s his [Spence] first fight back [from the accident] and they might say he was sick or he was hurt. There’s a lot of excuses they will use [if Pacquiao beats Spence]. So, I think Danny Garcia is the best guy out there for Manny Pacquiao and he did call Manny out that night.
Danny Garcia might be Roach’s first choice, but Pacquiao still wants the Floyd Mayweather rematch, a fight Roach doesn’t seem to optimistic about.
“Manny would like to fight Mayweather one more time. Can we get Mayweather back in the ring? I don’t think so. I think he is a little scared of Manny Pacquiao since we beat [Keith] Thurman so easily.”
