Pacquiao-Mayweather: Roach Says “50-50 Gets it Done”
By Mark Vester
Freddie Roach, trainer and sometimes business advisor to WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, admits that a 50-50 deal is the only way to finalize a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Both sides are asking for a bigger piece of the money. At the end of the day, Roach would advise Pacquiao to accept a 50-50 deal if it gets the fight done. Roach still has doubts that Mayweather actually wants the fight. Roach would like to see a deal with both fighters agree to an equal guarantee and the winners gets more money.
“I honestly don't think he wants to fight Pacquiao. I think both fighters know that if they do the fight at 50-50, it's going to happen. My guy is definitely on board. We definitely want that fight. Mayweather I'm not so sure,” said Roach, who appeared on In the Zone/1290 The Ticket .
“I'd like to get 60-40 our way of course. I know that we're the bigger draw. We'll try to get as much as we can but at the end of the day I think 50-50 will be the only thing acceptable. Maybe both guys get the same guarantee and the winner gets a big bonus. You can go $10 million guarantee a piece and the winner gets the rest. I love when the winner gets more.”
“Who else is he going to fight. To make the money he wants to make, he has to fight us. He can fight the winner of [Shane] Mosley-[Andre] Berto but I think he's ducking those guys too. He ducked [Antonio] Margarito when he was on top. He picks and chooses his opponents but I think the public wants to see this fight and I think there will be a big demand for it. “
As far as the date, Roach says the fight should take place around May or June. Pacquiao’s tentative return is sitting for March 13 but Roach feels that is too soon for a clash with Mayweather.
“I think March is too soon. May, June is a good time for a pay-per-view,” Roach said.
Roach didn’t take too kindly to Mayweather calling Pacquiao a “one-dimensional” fighter. He doesn’t think Mayweather is at his prime any longer. He watched several of Mayweather’s fights over the last few years and saw a definite downgrade in speed.
“Saying Manny is one-dimensional; he fought like three different styles in the [Miguel] Cotto fight. Manny is a lot harder to deal with than he realizes. Manny is a lot faster than he is. [Jose Luis] Castillo was in camp with us and said Manny hits a lot harder and is faster on his feet. He fought Mayweather twice and that was back in his prime also. I think Mayweather slowed down a little but. In the Oscar fight, that was a very close fight. We lost a split-decision. I thought we could have won that fight and I know the gameplan to beat this guy and I have the fighter to do it,” Roach said.
