Manny Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame of Fame trainer Freddie Roach is confident his fighter would beat Floyd Mayweather if the two were ever to clash in the ring a second time.
In May, Mayweather defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision – the most lucrative fight in boxing history to this point.
Roach blames Pacquiao’s defeat on his right shoulder injury in which he’s still recovering from after undergoing surgery just five days after the fight. The Filipino is expected to return in the early part of 2016.
The difficulty of getting Al Haymon and Bob Arum to work together again will be hard enough, but there will be another road block as Mayweather intends his Sept. 12 title defense against Andre Berto to be his last.
The 38-year-old Mayweather, who holds WBA and WBC welterweight title honors, spoke with Fight Hype earlier this week, where he was candid about the deteriorating health of his 54-year old uncle, Roger Mayweather, and how that could play a factor on whether he decides to hang up the gloves or not.
Mayweather’s health is most important to him. Not only does he want to retire on his own terms, but he wants to be able to live on his own terms. Muhammad Ali, who is often referred to as the greatest of all-time, took a beating late in his career, and was ultimately diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984.
Mayweather Promotions chief executive Leonard Ellerbe confirmed to Sky Sports on Monday that Mayweather would be retiring, but that’s not convincing many people, as Mayweather has already retired twice only to comeback to fight some more.
Roach, like many, expects Mayweather to continue boxing until he at least breaks Rocky Marciano’s streak of 49 consecutive fights undefeated, and Pacquiao would love to get another shot, speaking with Boxing News Online.
“I don’t know where Mayweather’s going right now. I don’t think he will stop at 49 fights. I think he’ll fight to 50. I’m hoping that he promotes himself, maybe if he does – he can make more money.
“Manny would do much better in a rematch if the shoulder gets better. We were doing well until the shoulder went in the fourth round, and we had a tough time after that. I do think we can beat Mayweather, 100 percent.”
Pacquiao has been linked to a fight with WBC Silver welterweight champion Amir Khan and if the former eight-division world champion returns to the 140-pound weight class, Brian McIntyre, the trainer of WBO World super-lightweight champion Terence Crawford, would like his fighter to take on Pacquiao.
I don’t think a Pacquiao rematch would look any different than Mayweather-Castillo II or Mayweather-Maidana II. If you don’t get Mayweather the first time, there’s a high probability that he’ll make you look worse the second go-around. Mayweather is the king of adjustments and Pacquiao never changes up his style.
