Vasiliy Lomachenko celebrates his Junior Lightweight bout victory over Guillermo Rigondeaux at Madison Square Garden on December 9, 2017 in New York City. Steven Ryan/Getty Images/AFP
Freddie Roach prefers Vasyl Lomachenko than Terence Crawford as Manny Pacquiao’s opponent.
Roach, the Filipino boxing star’s Hall of Fame trainer, thinks fighting Crawford, who is the undisputed junior welterweight champion, would be too much for Pacquiao due to the undefeated American’s advantage in age and size.
“I love the Lomachenko fight,” Roach told BoxingScene.com. “I like that better because I’ve been hearing so much about Terence Crawford lately. And Terence might be a little bit too young and a little bit too big at this point.
READ: Pacquiao says in talks to fight Lomachenko
“But the other way [Lomachenko], I like that fight for Manny. All we need is one tune-up fight, and we’ll go into [the Lomachenko] fight, no problem.”
Three days ago, Pacquiao had said he is already in talks with Lomachenko’s camp about a potential bout.
Lomachenko is currently the WBO 135-pound champion and for a clash with Pacquiao to materialize, Roach said his prized ward will have to reduce weight and fight the hard-hitting Ukranian at 140 pounds.
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The 29-year-old Lomachenko, who holds a record of 10 wins, one loss with eight knockouts, stopped Guillermo Rigondeaux on his stool after six rounds in his most recent fight last month.
Pacquiao, 39, has not fought since dropping a controversial decision to Australian Jeff Horn six months ago.
But Top Rank honcho Bob Arum said he is lining up Pacquiao to be part of the Crawford-Horn card scheduled in April against an opponent yet to be named.
The winner between Crawford and Horn could end up facing Pacquiao.
Whether it’s Crawford or Lomachenko, Pacquiao will have his hands full against the two, who are ranked as the top pound-for-pound fighters today.