Roach: Pacquiao pulled it off! I’m very proud of him!

In this video interview with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, trainer Freddie Roach gives his impression on Manny Pacquiao’s latest performance against Lucas Matthysse — the first Pacquiao fight he hasn’t been involved with in well over a decade. Check it out…

Roach on what he saw in this version of Manny Pacquiao that scored his first stoppage in almost 10 years:

“Great footwork. The uppercut worked well. He fought a very, very good fight. Him and Buboy pulled it off, they fought very well, I’m very proud of them. And, you know, the thing is, I wish I was closer and not watched it on my cellphone [laughs] but I can’t figure out how to use that new [ESPN+ streaming app]. But he looked really good.”

On if he expected Pacquiao to look like he did in that fight:

“One thing about Manny, though, his footwork and his mobility — he’s never lost that. That has never gone away. I mean, in the Horn fight maybe Horn was maybe a little too big by fight time because by fight time he’s weighing like 170 — he was a real big, big guy.

“Manny at 147, and guys that aren’t gonna get that much bigger, he’s gonna have a great time with just because of his speed and that speed factor is still there. And he still has great footwork and that’s never gone away, that’s never been an issue. I told Manny ‘I’ll tell you to retire when I think it’s ready for you to retire’ and I never told him to retire but I did suggest that maybe he look at boxing and a senator — maybe those two jobs together could be too much on a person.

“It was just a suggestion of maybe you should think about maybe doing one or the other and you’d be better at the one you pick. But I guess that didn’t go over so well [chuckles].”

On if Pacquiao might’ve just looked good because Matthysse was just the right opponent:

“But [Matthysse] has power, though. I mean he’s a dangerous guy and he knocks guys out. I mean the thing is, in Manny’s defense, I don’t think he had one clean shot on Pacquiao the whole night. He never hurt Manny and Manny found his niche with the uppercut and took care of business. I was very proud of him, I’m very happy for him.”

On the potential for him linking back up with Pacquiao for a big fight:

“Yeah, but you know, like, I’m busy doing The Contender right now and I got two new fighters from Mexico, from the Mexican Olympic team, who are really good prospects and so forth. And the thing is I’m working with these guys and so forth and I’m dedicating a lot of time to these people, and that’s where I’m at right now and if me and Manny talk ever — I hope we cross paths someday and say hello to each other and be respectful. ‘Cause we had a great 16 years together and I have no regrets whatsoever.”