RICK STAHELI CERTAIN A PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER REMATCH WILL BE THE BIGGEST FIGHT IN BOXING AND CLAIMS MANNY WON?T GET HURT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 17 Apr 2016
American trainer Rick Staheli who trained eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao when he won his first title in December 1998 against WBC flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul, is certain that if unbeaten pound for pound king Floyd Mayweaher decides to come out of retirement and wants to fight Manny, ?that?s the biggest fight in boxing? and while it won?t approximate the money they made in the first fight on May 2 last year, ?they will still make a lot of money and Manny is not going to get hurt.?
Staheli told The Standard ?it's going to be like a sparring session. Floyd doesn?t hurt anybody. Manny will never get beat- up by Floyd.?
He noted that if Mayweather wants to surpass the 49-0 unbeaten record of heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano and he wants to fight Pacquiao, the new 24,000 seat arena in Las Vegas and ?if I?m Manny it's hard to say ?no? to that. Win, lose or draw he?s going to make a lot of money.?
While his family wants Pacquiao to retire ?people want to continue to see him perform again? and it's ?hard to walk away from a million dollar fight. It's hard to retire as a champion."
Staheli remarked that Manny's shoulder which underwent atroscopic surgery for a torn rotator cuff injury five days after the Mayweather fight because it was aggravated in the 4th round of the fight ?looked good. His shoulder looked fine.?
Staheli downplayed the chances of a fight against unbeaten light welterweight champion Terence Crawford and indicated that while he is ?a nice fighter he is never going to catch up with Manny at the box office. It's not a big enough money fight for Pacquiao. I think he picked Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley (whom he beat handily, dropping the American twice, once in round 7 and once in round 9) because he made more money."
He suggested that ?if Mayweather wants to fight, take the fight, anybody else call it a day because what a great way to end his career when he looked pretty good. Other guys at 37 including Sugar Ray Robinson didn?t look like that in their last fight.?
Staheli agreed with our position that ?it's Mayweather or nobody? especially because ?it?s a fight Manny can win.?
Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza who moved over to the Mayweather camp after his services with Pacquiao were terminated on the insistence of trainer Freddie Roach and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum because he reportedly caused dissension within the Pacquiao camp, told The Standard that while Mayweather is ?obviously enjoying his retired life he naturally gets the fire for boxing as an athlete and a competitor and tells himself I can do this again? but added ?it would be very difficult to work with Arum.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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