Freddie Roach Wants Manny Pacquiao to Retire After Two Fights

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Retirement.

That's a word and a decision trainer Freddie Roach hopes, prays and truly believes that Manny Pacquiao won't have trouble with when the time comes to do so.

The 50-year-old Roach knows full well what the dangers are of staying in the fight game longer than one should; he remained in the game too long and wound up with Parkinson's Disease as a result of punishment absorbed during his pugilistic career.

"We've talked about it a little bit, touched base on it a little bit. But I'd like to see Manny fight two more fights and then quit," said Roach, who hasn't minced words when advising several of his fighters to end their career when he saw fit to.

"I'd like to see him take this fight [against Joshua Clottey on Saturday], and then maybe one with Floyd Mayweather and be done with it. I don't see any more challenges out there, and you don't have to go any further," said Roach. "I would love to see him go out on top and not be one of those cases that he stayed around too long, because that happens too much in boxing."


On Saturday morning, hours before taking the ring opposite challenger Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 knockouts) in defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) title at Cowboys Stadium, the seven-division titlist will debut on Good Morning America, his promotional company, Top Rank, announced on Thursday.

Pacquiao has captured the world's attention, his cross-over appeal most recently evidenced by his second appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

There, Pacquiao yet again dazzled the audience as well as the host with his engaging personality, sense of humor and singing. He even has an album that went platinum.

In the ring, the 31-year-old Pacquiao has an equal ability to knock them dead. He is 18-1-2, with 15 knockouts while being trained by Roach, a four-time Trainer Of The Year.

A three-time Fighter Of The Year as well as a Fighter of The Decade, Pacquiao's record since his last loss in March 2005 is 11-0, with eight knockouts.

And soon after his bout with Clottey, Pacquiao said that he will begin campaigning for a congressional position in the Philippines.

"The start of campaigning is March 26, so it will not be until after my fight. After the fight, I will go back to the Philippines and start campaigning. I like helping people," said Pacquiao.

"I think I was put in this position so that I can help my country, help my countrymen," said Pacquiao. "People can use me as an example to learn for themselves that anything is possible with hard work."

That hard work is something that Roach said Pacquiao loves about his sport.

"Manny works harder today than he did the first day that he came in. I mean, he just loves it. He likes the work. We did 16 rounds straight on the mits, for the last couple of weeks. No rest period, just straight through," said Roach. "On our media day, we did about half of that. Our media day, he goes half-speed because he doesn't want to show you guys everything."

And Roach knows that could make it more difficult for Pacquiao to walk away.

"I know that it's an addictive sport, and it's hard to quit, but what better way to do it than to go out on top. And the thing about Manny Pacquiao is that he has something to fall back on that most fighters don't," Roach said of Pacquiao, who starred in a superhero movie that debuted on Christmas in his native Philippines.

"He's an actor, he's a singer, he's a congressman possibly, and he has a lot of things that he likes to do," Roach said. "Why is Roy Jones still fighting? Because he doesn't know anything else but boxing. Should he be fighting?

Probably not. I don't think boxing is the only thing that Manny has that he can do."

But even after admitting that he still wants to face Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) during a recent chat with FanHouse's Michael David Smith, Pacquiao didn't say that victory alone would make his career complete.

"It would be a fun, interesting fight. I would need to get on my running shoes and chase him. It would be a good fight," said Pacquiao. "Hopefully, he will fight me, because it would be a great fight. I think it would be entertaining, and good if he actually fights me."




During the same interview, however, Pacquiao also hinted that boxing may have become such a major part of his life, that he isn't quite sure that he wants it to end.

"I hope to continue to fight. Boxing is my job and my love. I'm doing what I love, what I'm passionate about. So I want to continue. And I want to continue giving the fans what they want to see," said Pacquiao, adding that he would like to someday fight at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"I'd like to keep boxing for years. There are a few fights out there for me. It depends on a lot. My mom is asking me to retire, so I have to consider that," said Pacquiao. "I also have other things I want to do, but I'd like to continue fighting. It really depends on what happens in the next couple of fights."

Near the close of a press conference at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao was asked again if he would retire if he won the congressional election.

"I don't know," Pacquiao said. "We'll have to see."

Roach said Pacquiao "has no idea" about the extent of his Parkinson's Disease, adding, "He didn't even know that I had Parkinson's until a couple of years ago. We don't talk about it. We just go to work."

But if the need be, Roach will tell Pacquiao what he needs to about his ailment.

It could be a similar talk to the one in which Roach did not mince words when he twice recently admonished Pacquiao's 37-year-old Filipino countryman, Gerry Penalosa (54-8-2, 36 KOs), following two recent losses.

"That [Parkinson's] will be part of the conversation when I do ask him to retire. Just like Gerry Penalosa," said Roach. "I just asked him to retire. Very similar situation. He's older and just stayed around a little too long, I think."

Penalosa took a beating during a February match up with Eric Morel, where he fell short of earning the WBO's interim bantamweight (118 pounds) crown.

Roach didn't like the way things were going for Penalosa as early as the second round.

There was already swelling beneath the left eye of Penalosa, apparently from Morel's right hand. That swelling had grown even worse by the third round.

By the fourth, the same thing was happening to Penalosa's right eye, and by the fifth round, the swelling had spread evenly under both eyes -- evidence, Roach said, of the softened tissue of age.

"The thing is, Gerry's skin doesn't take the punches like it used to, he was cut up pretty bad in that fight, and he looked a mess," said Roach. "I didn't want to see Gerry take punishment like that."

There was more. A second clash of heads in the fight caused a cut near Penalosa's left eye, making his face a general mess of blood, and causing the ringside doctor to check it before allowing their battle to continue.

"Even though Gerry looked pretty good in that fight, and even though I thought that he won that fight," said Roach, "the way that he cut up, and the punishment he took in that fight, he just doesn't need it anymore."

Athough Penalosa lost a close, disputed split-decision -- one scored for Penalosa, 115-113, by FanHouse -- Roach said that he will never again work the corner of the former WBO super flyweight (115 pounds) and WBC bantamweight champion.

"It's a really hard thing to do to tell someone to quit. Because I remember when my coach told me to quit. It made me cry. I said,'What the hell am I going to do with myself? This is all that I've done with my whole life,'" Roach said, referring to his former trainer, Eddie Futch.

"He told me that I had declined in my performances. I got mad at him and said, 'F***, why don't you retire?'" Roach recalled. "I was only 26. It was frustrating to hear that. But he was right."

Roach said the he nearly pulled the trigger on Penalosa's career following April's one-sided, 10th-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Lopez in Puerto Rico for the WBO super bantamweight (122 pounds) title.

"We had the first discussion after he lost in Puerto Rico, and he said, 'Let me go down in weight and let me try one more time at a lower weight division where I'm more comfortable and the guy's not too big for me,'" Roach said of Penalosa.



"So after the [Morel] fight, which was so close that I even thought that he won the fight, he asked me, 'What do you think?' And I said, 'Maybe we can get a rematch with this guy?'" Roach said.

"And then, I said, 'I'm f***ing lying to myself,'" said Roach."I took him aside, and I said, 'Gerry, you know what my real feelings are? I want you to retire because you're beyond your best years.'"

Roach said that he once asked the now 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins to retire, yet Hopkins is in line for an April 3 rematch with 41-year-old Roy Jones.

"Bernard told me to go f**k yourself," said Roach. "And you just lost your check."

Roach reminded Penalosa that "you also train other fighters," and, "You have a whole group of guys in a stable beneath you, so why don't you help them out?"

Like Penalosa, said Roach, Pacquiao "can do other things."

"People say, 'Why would you want the guy who you make the most money off of quit?' And I said, 'Well, Manny and I have done well with each other, and I'd rather see him quit than go on after a fight with Mayweather,'" said Roach.

"I just don't see any point in going any further. Manny doesn't have to just box," said Roach. "Hopefully, if the day comes with Manny, and he does fight Mayweather, I can say, 'Win or lose, that's it.' And Manny will agree with me."