Ace trainer Freddie Roach feels Floyd Mayweather may be “available” for the winner of the upcoming January 19th fight between his star pupil Manny Pacquiao and Adrien Broner. Speaking with Hoy Hall Of Fame TV, Roach said he really does hope Pacquiao can get that return go at Floyd, and that with a healthy shoulder, the fight will be different.
Just why (aside from pocketing a pathetically easy $9 million) did Mayweather box that New Year’s Eve exhibition with Tenshin Nasukawa, Freddie asks, if not for “Money” to get back in the public eye?
“I think the winner of this fight (Pacquiao and Broner) could get him in his next fight,” Roach said of Mayweather. “Nothing official yet but why did Mayweather fight that fight (with Tenshin)? To get back in the public eye? I think so. I think he could be available next. I just hope it happens because I was very disappointed with the last Mayweather fight. It does bother me because we went into the fight and Manny told me in the fourth that his shoulder was hurt. At that point he was just going through the motions and so forth. I wish we had done surgery (on the shoulder ahead of the 2015 fight) so it didn’t blow out. But it did blow out in the fourth-round.”
For those fans who can recall or who are willing to subject themselves to watching the May 2015 “Fight of The Century,” it’s true Pacquiao was having a good deal of success in the first third of the fight, right until his had his shoulder problems. Would a rematch, here in 2019, with Manny entering the ring with two fully functioning pistons, prove to be a different fight? Freddie clearly thinks so.
In no way should we be at all surprised if these two superstars and all-time greats hook up again some time this year. And we’d all watch it, wouldn’t we! First though, 40 year old Pac Man must come through okay against 29 year old Broner. Floyd will be watching the fight. In fact, as it’s in Las Vegas, he might even be there at ringside.
