Freddie Roach does not want Manny Pacquiao fighting Crawford yet

Manny Pacquiao is scheduled to fight again in November, though his opponent has not yet been unannounced. Some have talked about him fighting Bud Crawford, who just beat Viktor Postol last weekend. But Pac-Man’s trainer Freddie Roach does not want his fighter facing Crawford just yet.

Roach told Boxing News that he is concerned about the type of preparation and camp Pacquiao would have, meaning someone less challenging would be better.

“At the moment everyone is mentioning Terence Crawford but I don’t like that fight for November,” Roach told Boxing News. “Almost the entire training camp would be in the Philippines, we wouldn’t be able to fly back to the States until 12 days before the fight.

“We’ll also be training in the evenings because Manny will be working in the senate all day, so it won’t be the best camp. Crawford is a great athlete and I wouldn’t want Manny going into that fight if he’s not 100 per cent. I want the November fight to be more of a warm up fight and then for Manny to fight again shortly after – I want it to be a two-fight deal.”

Credit to Roach for telling it like it is. Crawford is 29-0 with 20 knockouts and appears to be quite dangerous at 140 pounds. Given all of Pacquiao’s limitations because of his new job as a senator, facing Crawford in November might be too much to handle for now. That could lead promoter Bob Arum to try arranging things with Adrien Broner, whose financial demands were too great for Top Rank.