FREDDIE Roach, senator-elect and eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer, has advised Amir Khan to forget about a fight against the Filipino icon.
Roach also told Khan to instead recover from what he described as “a bad knockout.”
The British fighter, who bagged a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, moved up two-weight divisions to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at a catch-weight of 155 pounds and suffered a devastating one-punch knockout at the new 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas last May 7.
Sky Sports in Britain reported that following the knockout, Khan confirmed he will “spend time with his family in the immediate future, but also earmarked a bout with former gym-mate Pacquiao as “definitely a possibility,” expressing enthusiasm about going “straight into another big fight.”
Pacquiao (58-6-2-KO38) himself called time on his legendary career after outpointing Timothy Bradley in April and his long-time coach Roach, formerly Khan’s trainer, was quick to pour cold water on the idea of him facing Khan any time soon despite admitting the multi-division champion may fight again.
In an interview reported on boxingscene.com, Roach said: “That was a real bad knockout. After that kind of knockout, honestly I don’t know about that [Khan fighting Pacquiao].
He insisted: “That was a bad knockout and he’s going to be under medical suspension for a couple of months, so I don’t care what he says about Pacquiao right now. After that, I think he should take a break. Pacquiao is a senator now. I think he has one more fight in him but I haven’t spoken to him.”
Roach has previously claimed that when Pacquiao and Khan used to spar in his Wild Card gym, the Briton was knocked out cold several times, which Khan himself has denied.