Pacquiao bout with S. Korean is off - Roach

The Manny Pacquiao-In Jin Chi fight in Macau is off, according to Freddie Roach, Filipino boxer's trainer, in an interview with fightbeat.com. Roach said that Pacquiao might instead fight a South African. "They were talking about it, but I heard Chi fell out. Now they have a South African opponent and the guy is 16-6 or something like that," Roach said in the fightbeat.com interview. A quick check by GMANews.TV on the list of active super featherweights in South Africa showed that a 5-foot-11 orthodox boxer Zukile "Ironfist" Khandisa is the closest fit to Roach's description. Khandisa has a 16-7-0 win-loss-draw slate, with 12 knockouts. His most recent victory was a seventh-round TKO against Mpumelelo Mbedle last May in East London, South Africa. Roach is also questioning the logic if the fight pushed through, adding that it might be a marketing disaster. "How you gonna sell that?" Roach said. Pacquiao failed to explain why the fight wouldn't push trhough, but some boxing fans speculated that the Filipino boxing idol would be busy campaigning for an elected position in General Santos City, his hometown. "We need to work together as a team to get him ready for the fight, whoever it may be. If it does happen because Manny is running for governor now — and I hear a lot — I don't know. So Macau? I'm just not sure that's going to happen at this point," Roach said. - GMANews.TV