ROACH SAYS PACQUIAO HAS A FEW YEARS LEFT IN HIM
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 16 Dec 2010
Trainer Freddie Roach who supports Top Rank promoter Bob Arum?s contention that Shane Mosley is the best fight available for pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in the absence of Floyd Mayweather Jr, says Pacquiao ?has a couple of years left in him, easily.?
Roach told the Inquirer that ?if Mayweather did come to the table, after beating him I would love to see Manny retire on that note but this guy is just playing games.?
Roach said he is convinced that Pacquiao is still getting better even as he took issue with those who have suggested that if he doesn?t fight Mayweather, Pacquiao should retire.
The celebrated trainer remarked, ?why should he retire? He is in his prime. He just fought the best fight of his life (against Antonio Margarito.)?
Roach conceded that Margarito hurt Pacquiao ?a couple of times? in their November 13 WBC light middleweight title fight but that was because Margarito ?was 17 pounds heavier and a big guy. And this big guy put pressure on him all night long. It was Manny?s hardest fight, physically. He came out with his hands hurting a little bit because he landed so many shots and his side is a little sore. But he fought a big, strong guy.?
In a recent conference in Manila on ?Boxing and the Brain? in which several neuro surgeons and specialists as well as renowned ring doctors from the US and Britain discussed sports-related head injuries and wondered whether Pacquiao should fight if its not Mayweather. Arum admitted that brain injuries are ?a very big concern but that?s why at the start of every year he (Pacquiao? must take the finest possible MRI brain tests to make sure that there is no abnormality and that nothing bad has happened.?
Arum stressed that this is a ?different issue and that issue is certainly always going to be there and always before he starts fighting for the New Year and before he gets into the ring in May, Manny will have a full test in the US.?
The astute Top Rank promoter who arrived in Manila early Tuesday morning to discuss Pacquiao?s next fight and his future in boxing as well as to attend Pacquiao?s 32nd birthday bash admitted that Pacquiao ?is going to take poundings now in all of his fights because he is fighting naturally bigger guys. He fights as a welterweight but he is much smaller than the normal welterweight.?
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