"Hopefully Mayweather will get this message and come to the table and fight us! I mean, you know, let's just get this fight on. The fight with Clottey is not signed yet as we speak, but it's very close though and, you know, we want that big fight and the world wants that big fight," stated world-class trainer Freddie Roach just moments ago as he spoke to ESPN's Brian Kenny and revealed that there's still a slim possibility that the highly-anticipated clash between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather can still happen.
Although promoter Bob Arum has officially declared that the fight is off and has tentatively scheduled a bout between Pacquiao and Top Rank stablemate Joshua Clottey, Roach is still hopeful that Mayweather will drop his demands for random blood testing so the megafight can still take place instead. Roach made it clear that Pacquiao's reluctance to give blood so close to a fight is simply due to the way it makes him feel afterwards. "Everyone acts differently when they give blood. Some people pass out, some people get sick, some people get dizzy. Of course, Manny Pacquiao, when he gives blood, for about 3 days, he doesn't feel 100%. I'm not going to have him go into a fight, the biggest fight of his life, not feeling 100%," he clarified.
Mayweather's request for random blood testing ultimately caused Pacquiao to file a defamation lawsuit against Mayweather Jr., the fighter's father and Golden Boy Promotions for allegedly accusing Pacquiao of using performance-enhancing drugs. Despite the lawsuit, however, Roach said that Pacquiao wasn't too concerned about people wondering why he's reluctant to take blood tests within 30 days of the fight. "I don't think we're concerned too much about that. You know, some people are going to say that, of course, but the thing is, again, everybody acts differently about taking blood and he just doesn't feel right for about 3 days," Roach added.
While he did hold out hope that Mayweather will change his stance, Roach also echoed the sentiments of Bob Arum regarding Mayweather's alleged fear of losing, stating, "I just think he's scared. He has a chance of losing for the first time of his life and he doesn't want that to happen and it's very disappointing because the whole world wants this fight."
If Mayweather doesn't drop his demands, Roach has no problems moving forward with the Clottey fight and will gladly try to make the fight with Mayweather later on down the road, however, there will be other opportunities for Pacquiao as well and Mayweather just might have to wait in line. "You know, the thing is, I mean, I don't know why it can't just happen now," he remarked. "Nevada has been a great commission for a long time. They know what they're doing. I mean, all of a sudden a fighter is going to come in and dictate what the medical program is going to be? What I'm looking at is if Mayweather does come to the table down the line, you know, we're looking at the winner of the Shane Mosley fight and Berto and fights of that nature."
As for who Roach thinks Floyd will fight next if he doesn't fight Pacquiao, Roach simply replied, "I don't care. Who's he going to fight, Paulie Malignaggi? I mean, who else is he going to fight that means something?"
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