Manny Pacquiao won’t fight this year, says Freddie Roach

Manny Pacquiao would not see action inside the ring this year, according to Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach.

Pacquiao, 41, last fought against Keith Thurman in July 2019 where he triumphed by way of split decision to claim the WBA world welterweight title.

Roach repeated his belief that the eight-division would compete twice more before calling it a day, it just so happens that none of those two fights would take place in 2020.

“He won’t fight this year but if this ever goes away and I’m not sure it will because it’s getting worse and worse, not better and better—but I think Manny will fight once or twice more before he becomes the president of his country. And then he will retire,” Roach told boxingscene.com.

“He will fight again, I feel, and from when I’ve talked to him, he wants to fight once or twice more.”

Names have been floated and even a fight in the Middle East was mentioned as a potential venue for Pacquiao’s next ring appearance. All that said, nothing is set on stone says Roach.

“But the thing is, it could be anywhere from the US to Saudi Arabia, anywhere,” he said.

“They were talking about Mikey Garcia and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s the perfect fight for Manny.’ But I don’t think we’ll really know until this [pandemic] is over.”

Pacquiao previously stated he has no plans to get anywhere near a ring until the pandemic is over. With more than 200,000 COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, the Filipino boxing reiterated his decision to give boxing a pass for now.

“He told me that [the pandemic is] worse there than it is here,” he said.

“He can’t leave the house because he’s a senator, and his kids are all in the house. It’s just a bad time for maybe everybody at this point.” – JM Siasat/RC, GMA News