Boxing coach Freddie Roach said Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao will need to keep on winning if he wants to get that elusive fight against undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. Roach said that Pacquiao, who is due to defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight crown against Shane Mosley on May 7, will have to keep his winning streak to maintain his reputation as the best possible opponent for Mayweather.
“There's no room for loss right now. Mayweather's still out there. People still want to see [that fight], that's the fight I want to see,” the boxing coach told 8 Countnews.com’s Brand Cooney.
Boxing promoters have repeatedly tried but failed to arrange a superfight between the two pound-for-pound champions to the disappointment of fight fans. Negotiators from both camps first met in January 2010. The talks bogged down when the American boxer demanded the Filipino undergo Olympic-style drug testing. The precondition made it appear that Pacquiao has been using performance enhancing drugs, and this scuttled the talks. The Filipino superstar decided to fight Ghanaian Joshua Clottey instead.
After Pacquiao's unanimous decision win over Clottey last March, Top Rank chief Bob Arum again worked on holding the super fight. The Filipino champion agreed to undergo drug testing up to 7 days before the bout. Mayweather's camp, however, refused to acknowledge that negotiations took place. This claim was belied by HBO president for Sports, Ross Greenburg, who acted as the "go between" of both sides.
“There's a $50-million offer out there and they said no to that,” said Roach. “You know when you say no to $50 million… that tells you something.”
Golden Boy Promotions, which handles the promotional rights of Mayweather, earlier claimed that the undefeated boxer would have wanted to fight Pacquiao if not for his legal problems.
“People should be smart enough to realize that he’s in the middle of legal proceedings. His focus and energy is on that, clearing his name, not on making a fight. That’s just common sense,” said GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer. Pacquiao vs Mosley Live Stream.
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