Roach sees Pacman KO win over Margarito

Roach sees Pacman KO win over Margarito
By Abac Cordero (The Philippine Star)


MANILA, Philippines - Freddie Roach, this early, is gazing at his crystal ball, and said he sees Manny Pacquiao knocking out Antonio Margarito once the fight takes place in November.




The hottest boxing trainer in the world spoke to 8CountNews yesterday after reports came out that Pacquiao will take on the taller and bigger Margarito next.

It’s either his way of selling the fight or Roach just couldn’t think of any way for Pacquiao to lose this one.

“Manny will knock him out. We will knock him out,” said Roach, who is often correct when he makes a prediction for a fight involving the hard-hitting Pacquiao.

Roach was on the dot when he said Pacquiao would knock out David Diaz inside nine rounds, and with Oscar dela Hoya, who quit on his stool after eight rounds.

This time, Roach isn’t ready with his numbers yet, but as the fight draws nearer maybe he’d come up with his old, favorite number which is “nine.”

“It’s probably a marketable fight, and Manny beats up another Mexican,” said Roach of Margarito, who now has one foot inside the ring against Pacquiao following Bob Arum’s statements the other day.

The Top Rank chief said it’s going to be Margarito against Pacquiao on Nov. 13 even if the reigning pound-for-pound champion has yet to get hold of the fight proposal.

Arum said he sees no problem with Pacquiao agreeing to fight Margarito because it should be a “more competitive” fight than one with Miguel Cotto who didn’t last the distance against the Filipino last November.

The fight could take place in Mexico, Las Vegas, Dallas or Abu Dhabi.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., who still claims to be the best fighter out there, is now out of the picture, and hopes of a fight with Pacquiao should only come alive, again, early next year.

This early, too, fightfan.com has come out with the tale of the tape between Pacquiao and Margarito, and it wasn’t hard to spot the difference. The Mexican is just way bigger than the Filipino.

At 5’11” Margarito is easily four inches taller than Pacquiao, and with his reach of 73 inches, he could land a punch even before he takes one, but that’s if he proves as quick as the fighting congressman from the Philippines
.

However, Roach isn’t looking at the tale of the tape.

“I have no problem with the fight. Margarito is a tough guy, but his ring generalship is poor. Margarito has a good chin, but a good punch? We don’t know,” Roach told 8CountNews.

Margarito, of course, will have a lot of curious eyes around him when he gets his hands wrapped for the proposed fight with Pacquiao following the incident a couple of years back.

The ex-welterweight champion was stripped of his fighting license in the United States after an illegal and hardened substance was found in his hand wraps when he fought Shane Mosley in January of 2009.

Margarito got knocked out by Mosley, but has been on the road to recovery every since. In November he gets the chance to wrap his hands around Pacquiao.

But Roach, this early, thinks it should be the other way around.

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