After his fight with Chris Algieri next month, Manny Pacquiao will be going back to junior welterweight says trainer and coach Freddie Roach.
No, Pacman is not afraid of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the 147-pound weight division. He is still willing to go at it in the ring with Money anytime, anywhere should the pound-for-pound king finally agree to fight him.
Roach, however, noted that by moving back to 140lbs, the knockouts will return for Manny and will open up more interesting fights for the eight division world champion, reports SB Nation.
"There's a lot of competition in the 140-pound division. A lot of them are (planning) to go to 147 because they want to fight Manny for the bigger money. But as soon as Manny goes to 140, all of them will come back down (with him)," Roach was quoted as saying.
This early, a possible fight with Danny Garcia for Manny in the 140lbs has been floated since Garcia already announced his plans to stay as a junior welterweight, cites SB Nation.
But Garcia will have to make a voluntary title defense first before possibly fighting Viktor Postol in the division so the earliest date that he can afford to give to Pacquiao would be early 2016. "But then again, this is boxing and nothing is ever set in stone," poses SB Nation.
The Ring recalled that the last time that the Pacman fought in the junior welterweight division was in 2009, when he knocked out Briton Ricky Hatton in a matter of two rounds.
Pacman has not recorded a knockout since scoring a 12th round knockout against Miguel Cotto also that year, noted The Ring.
Roach avers that Pacquiao has never been a big puncher at 147 pounds. "I don't think he has lost his punch or his killer instinct. He's just been fighting bigger, stronger guys. I think the knockouts will start coming again (for the Pacman) at 140," opines Roach.
A Test Case
Pacquiao will be defending his WBO welterweight title versus Algieri on November 22 in Shanghai, China on the 144-pound catchweight.
Freddie Roach says that the bout would be an opportunity for Manny to test how he feels before he eventually moves back to junior welterweight, notes SB Nation.
While his fight is just a matter of weeks away, Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 knockouts) is reportedly still in the early stages of camp for his bout with Algieri (20-0, 8 knockouts), The Ring reported.
The Algieri fight is Pacquiao's first official defense after taking back from Timothy Bradley the WBO welterweight title in April.
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