Roach OK with weight of Pacquiao
TRAINER Freddie Roach doesn’t see any problem with Manny Pacquiao being underweight for his WBO welterweight bout against Chris Algieri on Nov. 23 in Macau.
Pacquiao, after all, has always been under the limit at the welterweight division. Even with a catch weight three pounds below the 147-lb welterweight limit, Pacquiao continues to be under the mark.
“I’m 140 right now,” Pacquiao said in television interview Thursday. “I am ready for Algieri.”
That’s where Roach wants Pacquiao to be. Not only does the lighter weight mean the Fighter of the Decade will keep his vaunted speed intact, it also sets the stage for Pacquiao’s return to the light welterweight division, a move Roach admitted he is mapping out.
“He’s never been a big puncher at 147,” Roach told RingTV recently. “I don’t think he’s lost his punch or his killer instinct; he’s just been fighting bigger, stronger guys. I think the knockouts will still start coming again at 140.”
After his morning run and afternoon training with sparring on Thursday, Pacquiao went to the scales at his Pacman Wild Card Gym in General Santos City and tallied 140 lb.
His HBO pay-per-view bout with Algieri is set at a catch weight of 144 lb. Being under the limit means Pacquiao doesn’t have to starve himself during training, and he can afford to eat as many as five meals a day.
Though Algieri is the WBO light welterweight titleholder, he is naturally bigger than Pacquiao, who’s a bloated welterweight at 5-foot-6.
Roach hopes a faster and more explosive Pacquiao can score a knockout this time.
Strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune aims to bulk up Pacquiao to 147 or 148 lb come fight night.
