Freddie Roach has been very vocal that he will be the first person to ask Manny Pacquiao to retire if his prized fighter does not have enough left in his tank to make an impact. But based on their recent training sessions, the Hall of Fame trainer is convinced that Pacquiao could still be on top of his game.
Roach said in an interview with PhilBoxing that Pacquiao could score a knockout win in his upcoming fight with Timothy Bradley on April 9 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"I saw it with my own eyes last Saturday that Manny really still has what it takes to knockout an opponent like he had been doing before," Roach said of Pacquiao.
The 56-year-old trainer also revealed that Pacquiao dominated in his recent sparring sessions with Ghislain Maduma and Lydell Rhodes, who reportedly got a busted lip on Saturday.
"Manny even bloodied Lydell's lip that I had to cut short the skirmish from what was scheduled five rounds to four," Roach continued. "I set a 10-round sparring session and to complete that, I had to make Maduma's five rounds to six. That was the best 10-round sparring I've seen from Manny in years."
Pacquiao, who will be fighting for the first time since losing to Floyd Mayweather in May last year, is considered heavy favorite over his rival. The 37-year-old took a controversial split decision loss in their first fight in June 2012, but ran away with a lopsided victory in their rematch in April 2014.
Bradley, on the other hand, is confident that he will be able to pull off an upset, saying that he is now a better fighter after trainer under Teddy Atlas. Atlas even said in a recent interview that Bradley will imitate Mayweather's defensive stance and speed -- a comparison that did not sit well with Roach.
"He can never be Mayweather," Roach told Los Angeles Times. "No way, not even close. It's night and day. Fighters try to improve and change, but when they get hit, they revert to what they normally do best, so we'll see in this fight. Bradley has been a good opponent for two fights. He's there, he's steady, but he's facing a very tough guy."
Bradley, whose only loss in his career came in the hands of Pacquiao, won in his first fight under Atlas -- a knockout win over Brandon Rios in November -- but Roach said that Rios was just out of shape.
