Freddie Roach, the longtime coach and trainer of Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao, has predicted that Pacquiao will knock out Floyd Mayweather if they both sign up to face each other in the ring early next year. Roach may have based his bold prediction on Mayweather’s performance in his last three fights which showed him struggling with younger opponents. Comparing what he may have seen in Mayweather’s last three fights against the same number of fights for Pacquiao since his devastating knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, Roach is confident of a knockout win for Pacquiao. “Yes, Pacquiao will beat Floyd with his performance against Algieri,? Roach said after the postfight conference for the Algieri fight. ?You know,Floyd about two years ago, I thought it?s about even. Now I think Manny will knock him out.? Mayweather’s last three fights were against Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana (twice). Against Alvarez, the unbeaten champion failed to impress the crowd at the MGM Grand in September last year as he struggled a bit with the youthful Mexican boxing sensation. His majority decision (MD) win confirmed his less impressive performance. Last May, Mayweather picked Marcos Maidana for his 46th pro fight in the same venue and he also failed to impress fight fans with the same MD verdict. Although Mayweather obtained a unanimous decision (UD) over Maidana in a rematch last September, he seems like a picture of a tired-weary fighter who needs to be rejuvenated. ?Floyd can?t run like he used to. He can?t move, his legs are shot, he?s a washed up, old fighter. We?ll knock out Floyd,? Roach said. Mayweather vs Maidana in May of 2014 Mayweather vs Maidana in May of 2014 The Boxing Blog Like this image For his part, Pacquiao promised his fans that he will try to rise again from his stunning knockout loss to Marquez and after a layoff from boxing for a few months, he resumed serious training to prepare for his comeback fight against the rugged American Brandon Rios, winning a unanimous decision verdict in a convincing and highly entertaining fight. Pacquiao’s second comeback fight brought him back to Las Vegas, Nevada last April to reclaim his WBO welterweight title which Timothy Bradley snatched from him during their first encounter at the MGM Grand prior to his loss to Marquez. Pacquiao got a UD verdict against Bradley in a very impressive performance to regain his title. On his third comeback fight, Pacquiao was even more impressive, scoring six knockdowns against unbeaten Chris Algieri in front of a sellout crowd at the Cotai Arena in Macau, China. Looking at the performance of Mayweather and Pacquiao in their last three fights, it is clear that Pacquiao showed progressive changes in his comeback matches starting off with the Rios fight. The Bradley rematch showed a fully recovered Pacquiao with improved power and speed while his performance in the Algieri fight was more than impressive. Mayweather showed insignificant change in his last three fights as he settled with two majority decisions and a unanimous verdict compared to Pacquiao’s three straight unanimous decisions with six knockdowns in the Algieri fight. Based on these records, Roach has enough basis to say that Mayweather has lost his luster and is now ripe for the picking.
