Freddie Roach: Manny Pacquiao Wants Floyd Mayweather Rematch

Manny Pacquiao is not fighting a Hall of Famer like Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez or Miguel Cotto on July 1, but longtime trainer Freddie Roach feels that Pacquiao’s upcoming title fight against Jeff Horn is important for his career moving forward.

Roach spoke to the media to talk about the Pacquiao vs. Horn fight and called it “a must-win” for the Filipino legend as Pacquiao is looking for a rematch with a certain boxer who’s fighting against UFC champion Conor McGregor

“Manny is in a must-win situation. He wants a rematch with [Floyd] Mayweather,” Roach said. “With Mayweather, you have to look good against an opponent, you have to be impressive. If he struggles in this fight, it could be over. Depending on how he lost, I would probably encourage him to retire.”

Mayweather came out of retirement that started after his 49th career win, a 2015 unanimous decision over Andre Berto, to fight McGregor on August 26. Pacquiao and Mayweather did have the long-awaited “Fight of the Century” back in 2015 and Mayweather won that fight via unanimous decision to capture the unified WBA, WBO and WBC welterweight titles as the fight broke pay-per-view records.

Since losing to Mayweather, Pacquiao won the rubber match in the controversial trilogy against Timothy Bradley. Pacquiao briefly retired before coming back to beat Jessie Vargas to recapture the WBO welterweight title. Pacquiao’s defending his title against Horn in Brisbane, Australia in an ESPN-televised card.

Fightful will have live coverage of Pacquiao vs. Horn, which will also feature an IBF super flyweight title match between champion Jerwin Ancajas and challenger Teiru Kinoshita.