Roach wants Pacquiao vs. Robert Guerrero

By Rob Smith - 01/10/2014 - Comments

Trainer Freddie Roach says that WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley isn’t a fight that Manny Pacquiao is excited about. He feels that he already beat Bradley in their fight last year, and doesn’t think the fight will bring in big pay-per-view numbers either.

With Bradley asking for more money than they’re willing to pay, Roach says that he’d like to see Pacquiao fight Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero if that fight could be made. Roach thinks it would give Pacquiao a good opportunity to show what he an against a fighter that was able to go the full 12 rounds against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year in May in Guerrero’s lopsided 12 round unanimous decision loss. If Pacquiao could stop Guerrero and beat him badly, then it could lead to a Mayweather fight for Pacquiao, Roach says.

“Guerrero has sparred with Manny many, many times, and he thinks he got the best of Manny,” Roach said to Radio Raheem. “And he’s [Guerrero] told me before he used to beat Manny up in sparring. I see it a different way, but I would love this fight. And he went the distance with [Floyd] Mayweather. If Manny knocks him ou then it puts us closer to a Mayweather fight. I believe Manny can knock him out. He’s being too nice of a guy sometime, because I believe he could have finished [Brandon] Rios in his last fight. But he didn’t feel the need to knock him out or hurt the person.”

Guerrero is trying to get out of his contract with Golden Boy Promotions right now. The only way a Pacquiao-Guerrero fight can take place is if he can get freed up from his promotional contract. That’s not going to be easy because Golden Boy Promotions has been putting Guerrero in fights and keeping his active. Even if Guerrero can get out of the contract, it might not be done in time for him to get a fight against Pacquiao on April 12th. That’s too soon obviously. But Guerrero is someone that could be a possible opponent for Pacquiao in September if he gets free from Golden Boy.

At this point Pacquiao badly needs opponents because the guys that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has in his Top Rank stable aren’t the type of fighters that Pacquiao can get a big payday against. Guerrero probably isn’t either, but he’d likely bring in more PPV buys than a Pacquiao vs. Ruslan Provodnikov or Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight.

“It’s [Pacquiao-Bradley] not a big money maker,” Roach said. “He [Pacquiao] feels he won the fight [against Bradley], and there’s no real need to fight him again unless it’s worth it. The money that fight brings is is not that great. I don’t think Manny really cares about that fight. What he talks about mostly with me is Mayweather.”