Floyd Mayweather Jr., Al Haymon Will Not Fight Manny Pacquiao Guarantees Freddie Roach Because ‘They’re Scared’
The recent verbal jabs between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao has gotten the attention of the boxing fans, who are still hoping that the war of words will turn into something real — perhaps, the super fight everyone is demanding from them.
In light of a recent denial by the undefeated American fighter that nothing is set in stone and that he’s not fighting the Filipino pugilist in 2015, Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach admitted to Ryan Songalia of rappler.com, a website based in the Philippines, that indeed a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight is improbable.
Songalia is a boxing writer who is covering Pacquiao’s training camp in General Santos City, Philippines where the eight-division champion is preparing for his Nov. 22 fight against Chris Algieri of the United States.
“Al Haymon will not fight Manny Pacquiao, guarantee that. Because they’re scared, all of them. His lead guy all the way down. It’s not going to happen. All of the excuses about they don’t like Bob Arum; it’s just excuses.” Roach declared possibly adding more fuel to the fire of the continuing war of words between two camps.
Roach went on to say that Mayweather’s manager, Haymon is a “nice guy” but that he doesn’t think Haymon is “good for boxing”. Roach failed to expound how and why he has that opinion on Haymon, who is considered one of the most influential bosses in the world of boxing.
Mayweather Jr. has recently threatened to remove his own father, Floyd Mayweather Sr. from The Money Team after the latter stated in an interview that declaring that his son is going to fight Pacquiao in 2015. Mayweather Jr. has yet to announce which fighter or fighters will he be facing for that year, which is pegged the final in the American’s boxing career after Mayweather Jr. himself stated that he may be retiring from the sport after 2015.
There were also reports that HBO Sports, who handles the Pacquiao fights and Showtime/CBS, who airs the Mayweather pay-per-view (PPV) bouts, have had internal talks recently discussing the probably Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight in 2015. Showtime could very well be putting the pressure on their ward, Mayweather to finally agree to a deal that will make the super fight a reality.
The allure of a huge money payday for both Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao and potential record-breaking PPV sales in the fight between the two is also an angle that has been beaten to death. Despite being in the tail end of their respective careers— Mayweather (47-0-0, 26 knockouts) is 38 years old and Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 knockouts) is 35 years old— what could be the biggest bout in the history of the sport could earn as much as $150 million for according to initial estimates.
Roach, who has been with Pacquiao since 2001, probably thinks it’s time to move on from the Mayweather saga. Or perhaps, with his latest pronouncement that the Mayweather camp is scared of them, Roach is just challenging and egging the brash and prideful Floyd Mayweather Jr. to finally sign on the dotted lines on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight everyone wants and boxing needs.
