During an interview with Fight Hub TV published on the outlet’s YouTube channel, Freddie Roach of the Wild Card Gym spoke about the ongoing situation regarding his most famous fighter Manny Pacquiao and his failure to announce who is next opponent will be. There have been many reports suggesting that this will be Pacquiao’s final fight, thus explaining the excruciatingly long decision-making process.
Bob Arum of Top Rank, Pacquiao’s promoter, announced that Manny would reveal his opponent during last Friday’s truTV broadcast which featured Puerto Rican prospect Felix Verdejo in the main event. However, the night before the card Arum admitted that those plans were forced to be canceled, reportedly because Manny wanted more time to consider his options.
As it stands, the three options (in order of likelihood) consist of Timothy Bradley, Terrence Crawford and Amir Khan. In the interview, Roach admitted that he is not really in the know and isn’t sure what Pacquiao is up to these days other than his well-publicized political ventures.
In fact, Roach says there has been virtually no communication between him and Manny, but not because he hasn’t attempted to reach out.
“No, you know when he’s in the Philippines and I’m here we don’t talk too much. I do have his phone number and I did call him, but it’s very hard to get ahold of Manny Pacquiao. He’s busy with politics and so forth and running for Senator, I’m excited for him and I hope he wins. Usually, in the Philippines if you go to Senator the next step is President. I would love to see him be president,” Roach said.
Regardless of what Manny is doing now, Roach is prepared to help Manny in the coming future as he eventually begins to train for his next outing. In that regard, Roach will always be available to Manny, and Roach expects he will be “there for Manny” beyond his next fight.
“Again, if he just wants one more then I’ll be there for him, but the thing is I know Manny pretty well. I don’t know if his ego will let him go just one more because he still loves the sport.”
As far as his actual selection, Roach has his own opinions on who it should and shouldn’t be, but his opinion won’t likely factor into the actual decision. Roach admits that the least likely option is simultaneously the most dangerous in Amir Khan while the other two fall a bit flat in his opinion.
“Amir is our toughest fight out of those ones because of the speed factor. And they (Pacquiao and Khan) know each other and they’ve sparred before. Crawford’s not ready for Manny yet I feel. Crawford’s a good prospect, don’t get me wrong. He’s a good fighter, but he’s not ready for Manny yet. He needs a little more experience.”
Roach doesn’t see too much upside in a third fight with Bradley considering the fact that Manny dominated both fights fairly easily, this despite the fact that they are actually 1-1 against each other. Bradley won a highly controversial decision in their first fight, but that was rectified in the second fight when Pacquiao won in a slightly more convincing manner, leaving little need for resolution.
The two fights between Pacquiao and Bradley were not very competitive, but the hardest part of the sell is based on the fact that neither bouts were particularly exciting.
However, the one upside to a potential promotion between Pacquiao and Bradley is the fact that Teddy Atlas is now the head trainer in Tim’s corner. This fight would match two of the best trainers against one another for the first time and at such a high level.
Roach questions whether or not the only meaningful storyline in this promotion would revolve around the corners and not the actual fight itself.
“Are we going to promote a fight or is it who’s the best corner in the world?”
