Legendary trainer Freddie Roach once revealed that he wanted to pull Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao out of one fight in particular.
Roach and Pacquiao began working with each other back in 2001 and would forge a iconic partnership that would continue for 34 fights over a 17-year period.
During this time, ‘PacMan’ established himself as one of the best fighters on the planet, capturing world titles in multiple weight classes whilst racking up victories over the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley and Oscar De La Hoya.
Whilst their partnership did come to an end in 2018, Roach and Pacquiao reunited ahead of the Filipino great’s sensational return to the ring back in July when he fought to a draw against reigning WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
Speaking on Youth Inc, Roach revealed details of how he wanted to pull Pacquiao out of his 2015 super-fight with Floyd Mayweather but says he felt like he ‘wasn’t powerful enough’ to make this decision.
“I didn’t try to stop the fight until I found out that the injury was that bad, the injury on his shoulder that would need surgery to fix … I still feel bad about letting that fight go but I wasn’t powerful enough to stop that fight from happening.
“The big promoters and so much money, the payday was tremendous but I don’t do this for the money I just do it for the love of the sport and I didn’t think Pacquiao was capable of fighting.”
Despite the hype that had surrounded their highly anticipated clash, the fight itself failed to live up to expectations as Mayweather cruised to a comprehensive points victory over Pacquiao to unify the WBC, WBA and WBO welterweight titles.
