MANNY PACQUIAO can fight for two more years, after that he can do whatever he wants, said Freddie Roach, the boxer?s trainer when asked how long Pacquiao can go on fighting at the highest level.
“With the lifestyle in between fights, it might slow him down a little bit. He could still do it in a couple of more years,” the American cornerman said.
“He doesn?t have much else to prove. I think if he wants to get into politics and something like that and if he really likes it, he should give boxing a couple of more years and then you can do something like that. But you can?t do both (at the same time).”
Pacquiao has beaten the best and the brightest of Mexico and is intent in adding more marquee names.
Pacquiao is slated to battle Marco Antonio Barrera in a rematch on Oct. 6 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and the decision to put up this fight stemmed from the Mexican?s desire to make up for the lopsided 11th round knockout defeat the Filipino dealt him in Nov. 2003 in Texas.
Barrera said he was not mentally prepared then owing to the forest fires in his training camp in Big Bear, California, as well as other things that surfaced days before the fight.
Should Pacquiao get past Barrera ?a sure thing if you talk with Roach ? he will likely fight a few more guys in the super-featherweight ranks of 130 and possibly move up.
Roach said there are “a couple of guys I like for Manny to fight (in the lightweight class) and a couple of others I won?t.”
“The one who fought Erik Morales, I will fight him and even if he is a conditioning freak like Manny, he doesn?t punch hard as Manny,” said Roach.
Still, Roach said: “Manny can beat all of them on a good night but the thing is Manny is not a big 130-pounder and he could still make 126 (featherweight) is he wants to.”
Manny made his mark as string-bean flyweight in the late 1990s but took the US by storm as a superbantamweight in June 2001.
Since then, Pacquiao has remained a fan favorite owing to his explosiveness and devil-may-care attitude atop the ring.
Meanwhile, Barrera lashed out at Roach for making an issue out of his handwrapping style.
“He shouldn?t be worrying about me, he should be worrying about Manny Pacquiao,” Barrera said from Guadalajara. “Worry about your own guy. This isn?t the first time I?ve fought in Vegas. I?ve fought in Vegas a lot of times and I?ve never had problems with my wrap. Everything?s been great. You know what? Freddie?s not a good trainer. Look what he did to Oscar, he helped Oscar lose. Look what he did to Israel Vazquez, Vazquez got knocked out. He?s not a very good trainer and he should worry about Manny Pacquiao,” added Barrera.
