Now that Manny Pacquiao came back from retirement and won another world title, the question that needs to be answered is who will Pacquiao face next and trainer Freddie Roach could see unified light welterweight champion Terence Crawford as Pacquiao's next opponent.
Roach spoke to Fight Hub TV and and gave his thoughts on a potential Pacquiao vs. Crawford matchup. He said Crawford would be a very tough opponent for Pacquiao and even compared Crawford to one Floyd Mayweather.
"He's big enough [of a name]... he will definitely be on the table and he is a Top Rank fighter so it's a fight Bob [Arum] can make pretty easily I feel," Roach said. "It's a tough fight. Ray Beltran did well with him and he seems like he's getting better, he can move for 12 rounds, he has great legs and he's a bit of a puncher and I think he's like a young Mayweather but he probably has a better punch than Mayweather. It's not an easy fight. It's a tough fight, yes, but it's one that we have to say yes to if that's the only thing out there because we don't wanna just be fighting nobodies and so forth to stay in the game."
One of the factors of selecting an opponent for Pacquiao is to find an opponent that isn't too tough for him to take too much time training and take away time from his other job as a Senator in his native Philippines. Roach isn't too worried about Pacquiao managing his time as a boxer and as a Senator, but admits that time will soon catch up to the 38-year-old champion.
"Has Manny Pacquiao ever been focused on one job in his life? Before when he was really great he was a dancer and a singer and making movies and so forth," Roach said. "He loves activity, he likes doing something at all times, he doesn't like down time, and he doesn't know fighters at all because he doesn't watch TV. I had to tell him who GGG was...but he is getting older and it's probably gonna take affect on him, probably sooner than later and the thing is, can he do both? No, no for much longer, no..."
In his return to the ring last November, Pacquiao defeated Jessie Vargas to win the WBA welterweight championship. Credit to Bad Left Hook for the transcription.
