Freddie Roach “Pacquiao picked this fight, I wanted Danny Garcia”

by Mick Akers

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach made it clear that Manny Pacquiao, not himself chose to fight Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time on December 8. If the five-time trainer of the year had his way a different fight may have been taking place.

Roach explained that instead of a fourth edition with Marquez or a rematch with Timothy Bradley, he would rather have seen Pacquiao go up against junior welterweight titlist Danny Garcia, in a bout that he said would have been more exciting.

Going up against Garcia would have been far more interesting, as seeing Pacquiao go up against one of the brightest young stars in the sport would have gave us a glimpse of just how much “Pac-Man” has left at this point in his career.

Garcia likes to mix it up and has a go-for-broke kind of attitude once his steps foot inside of a boxing ring. The chances of an early stoppage in a Pacquiao-Garcia bout would be very high and would be more of a fan-pleasing fight than a Marquez or Bradley bout.

Then we have the fact that Garcia already disposed of one of Roach’s former stars in Amir Khan this past July. Garcia and his loudmouth father/trainer, Angel Garcia would surely add to the entertainment value of the bout spouting off at prefight press conferences leading up to the bout, as they did leading up to the Khan fight.

Roach mentioned that Khan said Roach doesn’t teach his fighters defense once he denounced Roach as his trainer and opting to link up with Andre Ward’s trainer and 2011 Trainer of the Year, Virgil Hunter.

The displeasure Roach expressed is warranted, as despite the success Khan has had in the ring, he is nowhere near the level of fighter Pacquiao is, so making a comparison between Pacquiao and himself is completely off base.

One could hope that if Pacquiao is triumphant once again in his bout with Marquez in December, that the world gets to see “Pac-Man” face off with an explosive, young talent like Garcia or Brandon Rios next, if the dream fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather is not made yet again.