Freddie Says Manny’s Next Being in Macau Isn’t Set in Stone

The punching Congressman has been in Jerusalem, on a religious retreat, but we can expect Manny Pacquaio to make himself aware of what happens in the main event on Saturday night in Brooklyn, at Barclays Center, when potential foes Ruslan Provodnikov and Chris Algieri face off.

I chatted with Pacman’s trainer Freddie Roach, who also helms The Siberian Rocky, and he said he last spoke to Pacquiao about two weeks ago, when Manny called in to wish another Dedeham Freddie client, Miguel Cotto, well before his June 7 tangle.

“I think he’s getting back today or tomorrow,” said Roach, after a presser at Barclays to hype the Saturday card, portions of which will air on HBO.

And, I wondered, what’s the time frame for picking Manny’s next? “Bob Arum asked me who I wanted, I said, ‘Danny Garcia,’ he’s going to research that, see if it’s possible, because we don’t know if Al Haymon’s involved. Then Arum asked me about Amir Khan, I said, ‘I think I’d rather fight the other guy, style wise it’s better.’ And there’s been talk of him fighting Ruslan and if Ruslan is impressive in this fight, that could be a possibility also.”

And if Ruslan looks great, will that put pressure on Juan Manuel Marquez to reduce his ask, purportedly $20 million, to fight Manny again? Freddie didn’t disagree with that notion…

“They talk about fighting in China, if these big fights happen, they gotta move the location, because Marquez, Ruslan, those are big fights in America, and on pay-per-view, even Danny Garcia, I don’t think that would go from China. I think they would bring it to America, depending on the opponent. If a China fight does come off, with a high quality, tough-tough fight like against Ruslan, they don’t know who Ruslan is over there…”

Freddie said he sees a Manny-Marquez fight as having Vegas written all over it, basically, and same goes with a Manny-Ruslan bout. So, does he think Manny’s next is cemented for Macau, then?

“No,” Freddie said.

You think there’s wiggle room?

“Yeah,” he replied.

Freddie said Zou Shiming, in the very near future maybe fighting for a title, would satisfy the people in and around Macau. “So, I don’t know exactly which way it’s gonna go. Cause some of those opponents are not gonna go to Macau.”

Readers, your thoughts? Does it matter to you if Manny’s next is in macau, where he fought Brandon Rios last year? Do some foes make sense for there, and others don’t? Talk to me, in our Forum.

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