ROACH AND NACHO ADVISE PACQUIAO ON POSSIBLE LOMACHENKO OR CRAWFORD FIGHT
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 20 Jul 2018
Freddie Roach praised his former longtime champion trainee Manny Pacquiao for a job well done against Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last weekend. "He did great," Roach said in an interview with FightHype.com. He congratulated Manny and Buboy for working harmoniously together.
"He fought a great fight, he did really well, he found an opening with the uppercut, and once he hurt him, it was over," added Roach, who had been in Pacquiao's corner for more than 15 years and 34 fights. Manny's childhood friend Buboy Fernandez replaced Roach as head trainer with Nonoy Neri as his assistant.
The Hall of Fame coach praised the senator's incessant swiftness. "Manny's speed has always been there, it's never left him, his speed is a great asset, and it helped him so much in that fight," Roach added.
The names of WBO Welterweight Champion Terence Crawford and WBA (Super) Lightweight Champion Vasyl Lomachenko were floated as the probable next opponent for the eight division world champion. Roach thinks that both choices will deliver tough tests for Pacquiao.
"That's a very tough fight, the thing is, he'll really have to get in great shape for that fight," said Roach. "Very difficult fights, but if he's going to continue fighting, he's gotta get ready for fights like that."
Aside from Pacquiao, Roach also trained four-division world champion Miguel Cotto, former WBC middleweight champion Julio C?sar Ch?vez, Jr., three-time world champion James Toney, former two-time world women's champion Lucia Rijker, former junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, two-weight world champion Virgil Hill, and once trained Oscar De La Hoya for his fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Meanwhile another Hall of Fame trainer Nacho Beristain has a high respect for Pacquiao, that is why the veteran Mexican coach would like the Filipino boxing icon to think many times before fighting Lomachenko or Crawford.
"I am sure that Manny Pacquiao will be able to do much more for his people, but in boxing he did what he did, and now he should have every right in the world to choose his opponents to have a decent exit," Nacho told ESPN Deportes.
Nacho explained that he dislikes a promoter who exploits a superstar fighter heading for retirement but makes him an instrument for someone to advance his career.
"I would not like to seem him in those fights that they are discussing, with Lomachenko or Crawford. I've always hated that a promoter wants to take advantage of the remains of a fighter who must go to the museum of glory, and instead he uses them as a stepping stone for another."
Beristain started boxing as an amateur in the light flyweight division. When he turned professional, he had an untimely retirement in 1959 due to an eye injury. As a trainer for amateur boxers, he led Mexico?s boxing teams to several medal harvests at the 1968, 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games.
He trained well-known professional boxers such as two-division title holder and Hall of Famer Daniel Zaragoza, brothers Juan Manuel and Rafael Marquez, Hall of Famers Ricardo L?pez, Gilberto Rom?n, and Humberto "Chiquita" Gonz?lez, and Oscar de la Hoya in the Pacquiao fight.
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