Freddie Roach advises against Manny Pacquiao going up to 160-pounds for Golovkin bout
At 41 years of age, eight-division boxing world champion and reigning WBA (Super) Welterweight World Champion Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao has shown that he can still hang with the best in the world. Pacquiao is coming off a masterful victory over Adrien Broner and then handed the erstwhile-undefeated Keith Thurman his first career loss to capture the WBA’s primary welterweight crown. Now, the Filipino boxing legend continues to draw attention from potential opponents. Former long-time Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank Boxing has spoken about the possibility of a massive welterweight unification bout between Pacquiao and reigning WBO Welterweight World Champion Terence “Bud” Crawford, while WBC Welterweight World Champion Errol Spence Jr. has also been touted as a possible opponent. (READ ALSO: Manny Pacquiao has been on Terence Crawford’s radar since 2015) Long-time Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach has also weighed in on some potential future Pacquiao opponents. Speaking to Chris Mannix on his DAZN podcast, Roach mentioned the likes of Mikey Garcia and Robert Garcia as fights he likes for “Pacman”. "Mikey Garcia has called him out a couple of times, I think that’s a good fight for him, of course,” Roach said. "Robert called him out on one of your shows, that made me smile because I like that fight for Manny, I think it’s a great fight.” The biggest name - literally and figuratively -being thrown around as a possible Pacquiao opponent is that of reigning IBF and IBO Middleweight World Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. "The thing is Manny maybe might want to go a little higher and fight GGG or one of those guys who is supposed to be one of the best in the world today,” Roach shared. The hard-hitting Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KO) has ruled the 160-pound division since capturing the WBA (Regular) Middleweight Championship in 2010. Golovkin went on to rack up 17 more wins and capture the WBO, WBC, and IBF titles to become, at one point, the undisputed middleweight champion of the world. Golovkin suffered his lone loss against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2018. Since then, ‘GGG’ had reclaimed the IBF crown and captured the IBO crown. "There are always good fights out there. The one thing about Manny is he doesn’t want to beat anybody, he wants to beat the best out there. He wants to fight the top guys," Roach said. "Pacquiao still desires to be the best there is,” Roach added. A match-up with Golovkin would require Pacquiao to jump up to at over at least 154-pounds. The heaviest that Pacquiao has gone in his career is 144.6-pounds when he defeated Antonio Margarito for the WBC Super Welterweight World Championship back in 2010. Pacquiao has since remained at welterweight for the remainder of his career. "I would not advise him to go 160-pounds, that would be a little crazy. But putting him at 147 lbs was a risk at one time," Roach stated. A dream match against the much bigger Golovkin could bring Pacquiao his unparalleled ninth world title in as many weight divisions, but it’s not without its risks. Watch the full interview with roach HERE. .....»»