Canelo Alvarez has come under criticism in many quarters for dropping the WBC middleweight title and not pushing for a bout with Gennady Golovkin.
But Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach said the blame is misplaced. The blame, if there is any, needs to be on Golden Boy Promotions chairman/CEO Oscar De La Hoya.
?They?re all blaming Canelo, but look, fighters aren?t scared,? Roach said. ?It?s a business decision by his promoter. I don?t know why the blame went to the kid.?
And Roach, who trained De La Hoya for his 2007 bout with Floyd Mayweather, said he?s not so certain De La Hoya is wrong for avoiding the fight.
Golovkin isn?t popular enough right now and thus wouldn?t generate the truly big money, Roach said, to justify the risk the fight would present.
?Why fight the toughest guy for no money?? Roach said. ?I think Triple-G is the best pound-for-pound guy out there right now. I rate him very highly. But he?s not that kind of a draw yet. Eventually, he will be, but that fight is going to just get bigger.?
View photo .
Manny Pacquiao works out with trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card gym on April 9. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
More nuggets from Roach:
On Pacman in the Olympics ? Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement after his April 9 win over Tim Bradley and then earlier this month, he was elected to the Senate in the Philippines.
But he has said he?d like to compete in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August, to win a gold for the Philippines. Roach said they had a brief conversation about it.
?I know he?s very interested in trying to win a gold medal for his country, but I don?t know if it?s realistic,? Roach said. ?I?m not sure. In boxing, in one-on-one sports, this would be like men versus kids. You can do the [pros in the Olympics] in team sports, but it would be too overwhelming, I think in a sport like boxing.?
On the return of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ? The peripatetic former middleweight champion has found his way back to Roach?s gym, and they?ve begun to work out together.
Chavez?s commitment has often been questioned, and he has burned Roach in the past. Famously, HBO showed Chavez standing Roach up at the gym during an episode of ?24/7? as the countdown to his title fight with Sergio Martinez was on.
Roach isn?t making any commitments or plans just yet, though.
?We haven?t really talked about anything, but he?s been in the gym 12 days in a row,? Roach said. ?He?s still got a ways to go with his weight. He?s 185 right now, but he?s been here for 12 days.?
Roach said he would be interested in a Golovkin-Chavez fight if Chavez shows the commitment. He said Chavez?s size would be a boon to him.
?Chavez is bigger and stronger and if he really got himself into perfect shape, that?s a fight that I think would be good,? Roach said.
On Frankie Gomez?s resurgence ? Welterweight Frankie Gomez, 24, is one of boxing?s best prospects, and has been for a while. But Gomez kind of has the same issue as Chavez and hasn?t always trained as hard as he should.
But he was outstanding in a May 7 rout of Mauricio Herrera and Roach said he thinks Gomez is finally grasping the bigger picture.
?He fought very well [against Herrera] and he had a great camp,? Roach said. ?He was in shape six weeks before the fight. He understands how important training is and realizes now that it takes more than a few days in the gym to be ready for these important fights.?
Around the sport:
Reinstate Browne ? Francisco Vargas tested positive for Clenbuterol on April 21 and is still being permitted to fight on June 4 by the California State Athletic Commission. Executive officer Andy Foster bought Vargas? argument that he ate contaminated meat and it led to the positive test.
But the WBA stripped heavyweight Lucas Browne of its title after he knocked out Ruslan Chagaev on March 5, because he, too, tested positive for Clenbuterol.
Some use Clenbuterol as an aid in weight loss, but as a heavyweight, Browne would have no need for that.
Browne has said he, too, ate contaminated meat and that led to the false test. Browne also fought Chagaev in Grozny, Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, is Chagaev?s manager.
Given there is plenty of reason to be suspicious about Browne?s positive test result, the only fair thing would be at the minimum to order a rematch between Browne and Chagaev.
Wilder voluntary permitted ? The WBC announced Wednesday that it would permit heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder to make a voluntary defense. Wilder was set to fight mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin for the title on May 21 in Moscow before Povetkin failed a drug test.
The WBC made the only move it could make.
Ban exclusive contracts ? Boxing would be a lot better off if fighters were banned from signing exclusive deals with TV networks.
Golovkin, for instance, is signed to an exclusive deal with HBO Sports.
Imagine for a second if he were free to fight on any network. He could fight WBA champion Daniel Jacobs on network TV for the belt and then would go back in his next fight on HBO as a much bigger star.
But HBO doesn?t want to give up that exclusivity and so it won?t happen.
It?s not only HBO which does this, but they?re the biggest offender.
Bad year ? The first half of 2016 has been the worst six month period for marquee matchups in boxing for a long, long time.
And though there are a couple of intriguing fights on the schedule, there isn?t a lot of promise it?s going to get much better in the second half.
That makes the decision to put the super lightweight bout between Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol, set for July 23 in Las Vegas, on pay-per-view even more of a head scratcher.
