SAN ANTONIO – Freddie Roach is willing to work with Manny Pacquiao if the Filipino icon decides to return to the ring for a legitimate boxing match.
Roach would also advise Pacquiao to remain retired if the 43-year-old legend asks for his longtime trainer’s opinion on fighting another championship-caliber boxer. Pacquiao reportedly will participate in an exhibition sometime in December against DK Yoo, a Korean martial artist and YouTuber who apparently has no boxing background, but Pacquiao hasn’t indicated to Roach that he plans to partake in a real fight again.
Pacquiao’s six-year senatorial term in the Philippines ended June 30. The eight-division champion previously finished a distant third, with just short of 7 percent of the popular vote, in his country’s presidential election May 9.
“I think he’s finished [with boxing],” Roach told BoxingScene.com before another Filipino fighter he trains, Mark Magsayo, lost the WBC featherweight title to Mexico’s Rey Vargas by split decision Saturday night at Alamodome. “I don’t think he has anything more to prove. He’s done everything he can, I feel. He doesn’t owe anything to anybody. If he does wanna come back and fight again, I hope he picks me as his trainer.”
Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) announced his retirement September 29, five weeks after Yordenis Ugas upset him in their 12-round welterweight title fight. Cuba’s Ugas (27-5, 12 KOs) replaced injured welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on only 11 days’ notice, but the former WBA 147-pound champion defeated the favored Pacquiao convincingly in their 12-round championship match last August 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao had a clause in his contract for the Ugas fight that entitled him to an immediate rematch, but he declined to exercise it. He announced his retirement from a 26-year professional boxing career a week after he launched his presidential campaign.
“Right now, he’s traveling,” Roach said. “He likes going to different cities. He brings his family and his wife with him. He likes to travel. He’s doing something he enjoys. His wife doesn’t want him to fight anymore, from what I hear. If he calls me and asks me, I’ll tell him, ‘You don’t need to prove nothing to anybody in the world.’
“If he’s willing to come back, I’d like to help him and wish him the best of luck. But his wife and everyone doesn’t want him to come back. There’s a lot more people that feel he doesn’t need to come back. What does he have to prove? He’s already been there.”
Roach is working with another Pacquiao, however, 20-year-old Manny Pacquiao Jr. Pacquiao’s son won his amateur debut March 12 in San Diego.
“His son is fighting out of my gym now,” Roach said. “So, it’s nice to have him there. I mean, he’s not Manny Pacquiao, but he’s trying.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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