Pacquiao vs Mayweather Fights and News: Trainer Freddie Roach Believes 'Pacman' Will Have A Better Legacy Than Floyd Jr.
Freddie Roach believes that Manny Pacquiao will have a better legacy than Floyd Mayweather Jr. when both fighter decide to hang up their gloves.
Roach said in an interview with BoxingScene on Friday that Pacquiao, who will face Timothy Bradley in a rematch on Saturday, should be considered as the better fighter even if Mayweather ends up with an unblemished record.
The Hall of Fame trainer pointed out that Pacquiao absorbed three knock out defeats in his career, but he made sure that he was fighting the best available opponent, while Mayweather has been cherry picking his opponents.
"When you have a fighter that will go for it and has the balls to go for it even if he might get knocked out. Mayweather doesn't have the balls to go for it and his fights put you to sleep. I fell asleep on two of his fights and I'm a boxing fan," Roach said.
Roach said that Mayweather is very good at what he does as proven by his 45-0 record.
However, the six-time Boxing Writers Association of America Trainer of the Year pointed out that it's not about the record, it's about giving fight fans a good fight.
"I think it's about putting a show on and giving the people what they want," Roach said. "Putting people to sleep is not a good thing. It's the way he fights. I'm not going to fault him for it. He's very good at what he does, but he's boring. Andre Ward is a great fighter, but he's a little bit boring also."
Roach also insisted that Mayweather's record-setting pay-per-view numbers should not be used in comparing the two fighters. Mayweather had 2.4 million buys during his showdown with Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 and 2.2 million for the Saúl álvarez bout in 2013.
Roach stressed that Pacquiao, who has not scored a knockout win since 2009, could have surpassed those numbers if the former pound-for-pound king did not become too compassionate in his previous fights.
"If Manny didn't stop knocking people out, he would have stayed up there with Mayweather. But when he became compassionate, a lot of people didn't buy the fights," Roach said.
Check out more Pacquiao coverage below from Sports Editor Ed Molina.