When Freddie Roach first heard Manny Pacquiao would return from a two-year layoff to challenge unbeaten unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., the Hall-of-Fame trainer had anything but fear on his mind despite this serving as one of the most dangerous tests of the PacMan’s 26-year career.
“I knew [Pacquiao] was going to fight again. We were looking for the best opponents out there,” Roach told “Morning Kombat” last week. “I was actually hoping he would pick Mikey Garcia. I thought he was a better fight. But when he picked Spence, I called him up and said, ‘Congratulations, you are fighting a real fight.’
“I love real fights in boxing because we need more of this stuff and not just actors who are famous for whatever they do. We need two really good fighters going at it and I can’t wait.”
At 42, Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) has yet to show much of a sustained decline despite a style so reliant upon speed and explosion. The only eight-division champion in boxing history looked anything but 40 two years ago — the last time we saw him in dropping then-unbeaten titleholder Keith Thurman en route to a thrilling decision win.
Yet despite how devastating Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) has looked in defeating a who’s who of the modern 147-pound era, including Kell Brook, Lamont Peterson, Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia, Roach believes Pacquiao will have an even easier time with the 31-year-old southpaw than he did against Thurman.
