Manny Pacquiao has already announced his retirement, but the Filipino boxing icon is continuously being linked to a possible showdown with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
But if trainer Freddie Roach will have it his way, he wants Manny Pacquiao to return to the 140-pound division and face super lightweight star Terence Crawford.
"My favorite fight for Pacquiao is Terence Crawford," Roach told reporters, when asked to pick an opponent for his prized fighter. "Manny's best fighting weight is 140-pounds and I think that's a great fight for us."
Roach thinks that Alvarez, the reigning World Boxing Council middleweight champion, is too big for Pacquiao. But if the inevitable happens, the Hall of Fame trainer said he will allow Pacquiao to face Alvarez with a stipulation that the Mexican boxing superstar will not gain too much weight on fight night.
"Canelo is a big guy," Roach said of Alvarez. "The thing is, I'm sure that if we fought a guy like that we'd have to put a cap on how much weight he can gain after the weigh-in."
Juan Manuel Marquez, who faced Pacquiao four times, echoed Roach's statement in an interview with Fighthype. Marquez, who saw how Pacquiao ran away with a unanimous decision win over Timothy Bradley on Saturday, said that Canelo has a huge size advantage. But for fans' sake, he wants the Pacquiao-Canelo fight to happen.
"I would like to see Canelo, he is too big for Manny, but I would like to see that fight," Marquez said. "I don't know. Canelo is a younger fighter and has power but I think maybe the people want to see that fight."
It remains to be seen, though, whether or not the two camps will even sit down to discuss the fight.
First, Pacquiao has already retired after winning against Bradley and will only reportedly come out of retirement if he gets another shot at Floyd Mayweather. Second, Alvarez has other plans in mind, including a bout with Gennady Golovkin.
Alvarez, who owns 46-1-1 record with 32 knockout victories, will defend his WBC middleweight title against Amir Khan on May 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. If he wins, he will have to defend his title against Golovkin or run risk of getting stripped off his belt.
