MANILA, Philippines – If there?s one person who?s really dying to make Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather happen, it?s Freddie Roach.
?I want the fight bad,? the chief trainer of the Filipino world champion told ESPN.com.
Roach had said many times there?s no other challenge out there for Pacquiao but Mayweather.
?He can beat Mayweather and then run for president of the Philippines,? Roach had said before.
Mayweather is indeed the only big fight out there for Pacquiao, and not Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley or Lamont Peterson.
Pacquiao has fought Marquez three times, and had beaten him twice, and pounded Cotto for 12 rounds in 2008.
Bradley is undefeated, but a fight with Pacquiao may not really ring the bell. Peterson? He?s hardly been heard of before until he beat Amir Khan last month.
What Roach is saying that it?s Mayweather, and no one else, who can provide the real challenge for Pacquiao.
The fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather has been up in the air for two years now, and the latest talk of the town is that it could happen this year.
Mayweather wants it to happen on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, while Pacquiao?s camp would like to see it done not later than June 9.
Not at the MGM which can only seat as many as 17,000 fans but in a temporary open-air arena along The Strip, one that can accommodate more than 45,000.
Whenever, wherever, Roach wants the fight to happen as soon as possible.
?It?s definitely a challenge, and we need to challenge Manny to get him motivated. He doesn?t get motivated for ordinary guys, and Mayweather isn?t an ordinary guy,? he told Dan Rafael.
