Freddie Roach: Hope of Mayweather rematch is the only reason Pacquiao still fighting

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach chats it up with On The Ropes Boxing Radio to talk about how he looks forward to Manny Pacquiao’s returning to the ring and their hopes of luring Floyd Mayweather out of retirement into a rematch.  When specifically asked what the chances are of landing another Mayweather fight, Roach responds:

“That’s probably the only reason that we’re staying in the game, because we do want a rematch with Mayweather and we would like to get that. Mayweather has been to my gym a couple of times and I saw him at a restaurant in LA one time and he took pictures with my friends, he was very polite and very nice.

“Mayweather told me he hasn’t trained a day since he retired and I said, ‘Hey, I thought you were a gym rat, you’re always in the gym,’ and he said, ‘I haven’t worked out a day since I retired’ I told him, ‘There’s still some big fights out there for you.’ I didn’t ask him about Manny at all but I don’t know the real reason why he’s coming by to visit. He doesn’t want me to be his trainer I don’t think, but I thought maybe it was for him and Manny to get together one more time.”

Roach then went on to say that Pacquiao still believes that he beat Mayweather and that if you watch the fight again without the commentating, you’ll see Pacquiao land more punches — corroborating his belief. It’s sort of a strange thing to suggest considering that Roach himself has admitted any number of times that even he believes that Mayweather beat Pacquiao decisively that night.

“I know Manny wants the rematch really bad, Manny thought he won the first fight and if you look at it with no commentating, you watch and see him landing more punches. I still was a little disappointed in Manny’s performance but now he’s one hundred percent and I think at one hundred percent, he will destroy him.”

Roach’s final thought on the never-ending Mayweather-Pacquiao drama is that he believes both Pacquiao and Mayweather will continue to fight because of money issues. Roach claims that Pacquiao is too generous with giving his money away, and that Mayweather is too generous in spending it, ultimately leading both back to prizefighting.