Pacquiao should decide when to retire – Roach
Credit to Author: EDDIE G. ALINEA| Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 16:16:55 +0000
SAN FRANCISCO: Only Manny Pacquiao knows when he should hang his fighting shoes.
This is what the eight-division world champion’s former chief trainer now consultant Freddie Roach sees in Pacquiao’s recent split decision win over erstwhile undefeated Keith Thurman meant.
“That guy vowed to retire Manny, and he refused, indicating that he and only he has the say on when he will retire. Not someone else,” Roach told The Manila Times on Monday in a chanced meeting at the lobby of the MGM Hotel.
“Previous to that, others who Manny fought before, also tried to beat him in the hope of, once and for all, end his career,” Roach recalled.
The seven-time trainer of the year, likewise, said it’s only his pupil of 18 years, who decides when he’ll fight next and against whom.
“What I can say right now is we don’t know what’s next, who we’re gonna fight next, when and so forth — we just need to sit down a little bit and let him rest a little bit with his family and perform his duties as a senator,”Roach pointed out.
He clarified, though, that after the Filipino ring icon’s latest act, the owner of the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, like everybody else, believed Pacquiao has earned his place and should be part of what the Premier Boxing Champions’ efforts to unite the welterweight title.
“Yeah, Manny had just unified the WBA welterweight beIt. He, too, needs to unify the 147-pound championship, just like (Errol Spence), Shawn (Porter) and (Terence) Crawford,” he reasoned out.
“As I said, we still have nobody in mind right now. Those guys are out there, yes. And we want to be the best in this division, we’re not just fighting for fun, you know?,” Roach averred.
“If (Floyd) Mayweather unretires and decides to join the fun, it would be great. If not, Spence, ‘Bud’ Crawford, those guys, I mean young guys doing really well and very, very tough fights,” he said.
Asked on what he thought of the fight held on Saturday night at the MGM Grand, Roach noted: “It was a very close fight. No complaints. Manny controlled the early rounds very, very, well.”
“He knocked the guy down. He won maybe another two points when he hit Thurman with a body shot and the guy ran for about two minutes and unable to get back his wind,” he said. “Despite that It was very competitive.”
The 59-year-old thought, too, the split decision win for Pacquiao was unjustified.
On Thurman’s showing, Roach had this to say: “His power looked pretty good. He’s a strong kid and he came in great shape. He came to fight.”
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