Freddie Roach wants Manny Pacquiao to face Danny Garcia in his next fight, after the Filipino boxing icon won against Chris Algieri on Saturday night at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China.
Roach said that while most people are still hoping for the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, he is not too optimistic about it anymore, saying that the unbeaten champion will continue to dodge his fighter.
With no more big names at the 147-pound division, Roach said that Pacquiao will likely move down to 140 pounds. And if he will have it his way, he wants the former pound-for-pound king to face Danny Garcia.
"If Manny feels good in this fight at 144 then I think his next fight will be at 140 because he makes 140 very easily," Roach said via BoxingScene. "First fight back? Danny Garcia. That's my personal opinion."
Roach said that Pacquiao will be more dangerous at 140 pounds and will score knockouts like what he was doing before moving up to the welterweight division where he has faced bigger and stronger foes.
"Danny Garcia at 140, we'll go there," Roach continued. "There are options out there. Mayweather's not everything. I think Manny's a better fighter at 140. He's faster and more explosive - I think the knockouts will come back."
However, Garcia is under Al Haymon, who is also the adviser of Mayweather and the one who is being blamed for Mayweather's reluctance to face Pacquiao, which makes most analyst doubt if the Pacquiao-Garcia fight will happen. Roach remains confident, though, that Haymon will allow Garcia to face Pacquiao.
"I think he'll give Garcia up. He won't give Mayweather up, but he might have to give us [Garcia]," Roach said. "He can't just have 160 fighters and not have them fight outside that box, unless he's trying to be like MMA and monopolize boxing, and I don't think that's possible."
Garcia, who holds an impressive 29-0 record with 17 knockouts, is coming off a second-round knockout win against Rod Salka in August. The 26-year-old previously scored knockout wins against Erik Morales and Amir Khan.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, scored a dominating win against Algieri, whom he knocked down six times in the match, on Saturday night to keep his World Boxing Organization welterweight title.
