Reigning and defending WBO welterweight champ Jessie Vargas almost certainly does not like it one bit, but it does seem as though fight fans and members of the media are talking more about who returning superstar Manny Pacquiao may or may not face in his next fight after the Las Vegas clash with Vargas this coming Saturday night. There is interest in Pacquiao-Vargas but the fight does not have anything like the buzz previous Pacquiao fights had.
Freddie Roach
Pacquiao discusses Vargas fight
FREDDIE ROACH: It was a pretty tough schedule in this camp but he held up really well. The sparring days were really good and it’s the best I’ve seen Manny in a long time – he is a lot more aggressive than I have seen him in the past and there was a lot of the old Manny Pacquiao coming out and he really, really looked good. We trained right up until Saturday morning before our flight out to Los Angeles and he boxed 10 rounds and he looked great and he’s in great shape, I know it’s been a very difficult camp with the Senate and so forth. Manny has always been a busy person but because of the Senate he seems to be a lot more serious than anything else he has done. He is in Senate sessions on some nights until 7:30 or 8:00 at night and when he is done we go right to the gym.
Viktor Postol/Freddie Roach Blog Part 3: Tuesday, July 12
How is Crawford different from other boxers and what kind of fight are you expecting?
POSTOL – “What differentiates Crawford from many other fighters are his skills and technical attributes. From a mental aspect he is a very clever boxer, always using his mind in the ring, changing stances, all the time adapting to different types of opponents. He has shown this in his previous fights. But that does not mean he is the best I have fought. I think Lucas Matthysse is a higher-level fighter than Crawford and everyone knows how my fight with Matthysse ended, with him knocked out and the WBC belt around my waist.
Roach says Pacquiao’s right hand is now “stronger than his left!”
Superstar Manny Pacquiao began working at the Wild Card gym of his equally famous trainer, Freddie Roach on Monday, and Roach liked what he saw from Pac-Man in sparring. Getting ready to face Tim Bradley for a third and final time – Pacquiao repeatedly stating how the April 9th fight will be his final ring appearance before saying adios – the future Hall of Famer is also overcoming the shoulder injury he carried with him into the “Fight of the Century” against Floyd Mayweather Junior last May.
But, as Dan Rafael reports on ESPN.com, there are no concerns about the shoulder. Not for Roach anyway. Roach, who has said a few times he believes his southpaw dynamo will score a KO over Bradley this time, has been amazed at the strength of Manny’s right hand. Pacquiao tore his rotator cuff, a quite common injury for boxers, and had to undergo surgery to repair it. Roach is praising his fighter’s doctor, who, he says, has worked a near miracle!
Pacquiao and Roach arrive in U.S to start training
LOS ANGELES (March 12, 2016) — Fighter of the Decade MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO and his Hall of Fame Trainer World-Famous FREDDIE ROACH will soon break camp in General Santos City in the Philippines and head to the U.S. On Monday, at Roach’s Hollywood-based Wild Card Boxing Club, they will begin phase two of training for their sole mission — demolishing two-division world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY JR. Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) and Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) are 29 days away from their date with destiny — their 12-round welterweight battle for pound for pound supremacy.
Roach: Canelo vs. Golovkin is never going to happen
Trainer Freddie Roach believes that boxing fans are never going to see a match-up between WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) and unbeaten IBF/IBO/WBA 160lb champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs). Roach doesn’t say why he doesn’t believe the fight will happen, but it’s likely due to the huge risk involved for Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters for Canelo.
“You know that fights [Canelo-Golovkin] never going to happen,” Roach said to tha boxing voice. “I like Triple G. I think he’s a great fighter. I think he’s one of the best fighters in the world. No [he’s not a draw].”
Roach: Crawford rejected Pacquiao fight
In a really surprising bit of news, Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is saying that unbeaten WBO 140lb champion Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs) turned down a fight against Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) for April 9th. Roach says Crawford said no to a fight against Pacquiao, and that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said they wouldn’t try and get Crawford to take the fight with Pacquiao yet.
Pacquiao said last week that he plans on fighting for the last time against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) in their fight on April 9th on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Roach not sure if Bradley has improved with Atlas
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes that one of the biggest selling points for the third fight between his fighters Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley is the improvements that have been made in Bradley’s fighting style with new trainer Teddy Atlas. Arum thinks that this isn’t the same Bradley that Pacquiao fought in the past in 2012 and 2014, and got the better of in both fights.
Pacquiao lost the first fight in 2012 and won the second one in 2014. However, the general consensus is that Pacquiao was the better fighter in both fights with Bradley. Freddie Roach, the trainer for Pacquiao, says he cannot see how Bradley has improved with Atlas. The two only worked together for the Brandon Rios fight last November, and Rios came into the fight a fat 170lbs.
Roach Wants Pacquiao Matched ‘Tough’ On Return / Matthysse, Brook, Crawford All Possibles ?
When he returns to the US in the next fortnight to meet with surgeon Dr ElAttrache and to begin rehab on “that” rotator cuff injury, Manny Pacquiao will no doubt be meeting with trainer and Wild Card gym boss Freddie Roach to discuss exactly “what’s next?”
In what can perhaps be perceived as a thinly veiled dig at Floyd Mayweather’s recent “Berto talk” regarding his September 12 opponent, Roach has spoken out to USA Today in a recent interview, to insist that when the Filipino star does indeed return to the ring, he wants him matched “tough.”
Freddie Roach “Khan Hasn’t The Balls For Mayweather Or Pacquiao”
Amir Khan has hit back at ex-trainer Freddie Roach who said that the British fighter maybe lacks the intestinal fortitude to square off against either of the world’s two premier 147lb fighters, in Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Roach, who once said that Manny had Khan down 4 times in sparring, is arguably bitter over the Bolton man’s decision to “defect” to Virgil Hunter after his crushing defeat to Danny Garcia back in 2012.
He said of Khan; “Amir should be calling out my man or Mayweather, but he doesn’t have the balls”