MANILA, Philippines – Although Manny Pacquiao feels he should have won the heavily-hyped showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2015, his longtime trainer Freddie Roach sees it the other way around.
Roach, who has been Pacquiao’s boxing coach since his title-winning performance against Lehlo Ledwaba for the IBF super bantamweight belt in June 2001, stressed that Mayweather won the blockbuster bout in decisive fashion.
"In my own mind I didn’t think he won the fight, but I didn’t re-watch the fight because I was too disappointed in Manny’s performance," he said in an interview with On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
Many ringside observers believe that Mayweather defeated Pacquiao fair and square, but the Filipino boxing icon said that he deserved to walk away with the decision victory.
Roach pointed out that the shoulder injury hindered Pacquiao from showing off his full potential against Mayweather.
“The shoulder became a problem and he didn’t fight the fight that I think he can fight and I think he can fight a much better fight,” he stated.
Pacquiao injured his right shoulder 3 weeks before the highly-anticipated encounter with Mayweather and was forced to take several days off from sparring as he nursed the aforementioned ailment.
An MRI exam subsequently showed a rotator cuff tear on Pacquiao’s shoulder, but his camp opted to proceed with the fight since he made good progress and looked like he could still compete.
While Mayweather landed 148 of 435 punches during the 12-round title unification tussle, Pacquiao connected with just 81 of 429 as his aggressive style was neutralized by his opponent’s flashy defense and ring generalship.
The 7-time “Trainer of the Year” awardee remains hopeful that Pacquiao will get another crack at Mayweather, who retired from the sport of boxing this past September following a lopsided victory over Andre Berto.
“I’m hoping a rematch happens, but one guy is retired already and one says this is his last fight, but we’ll see. At this point, I really can’t look forward to it because there’s not enough there to put the fight together again,” Roach asserted.
Pacquiao is set to step into ring with Timothy Bradley Jr. for the third time on April 10 (April 9 in US) at the 16,800-capacity MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. – Rappler.com