Roach: Crawford tough for Pacquiao, like a young Mayweather but better puncher!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Trainer Freddie Roach has acknowledged the skills Terence Crawford possesses ahead of a possible clash between the Omaha fighter and his star boxer Manny Pacquiao.

Talk of a spring clash between the pair has been gathering more pace in recent weeks and Roach admits Pacquiao would be highly challenged by Crawford at this late stage of his career.

"It's a tough fight, but it is one that we have to say yes to if that's the only thing out there," Roach told Fighthub TV.

"We don't want to be just fighting nobodies and so forth just to stay in the game. We still want to be the best."

"The thing is, if you can't be the best in something, or if you have no dream of winning another world title, then you don't need to be in this sport because you'll get hurt.”

On Crawford’s impressive 2016, Roach added: "He seems like he's getting better. He can move for 12 rounds, he has good legs, and he's a bit of a puncher."

“I think he's like a young Mayweather, but he probably has a better punch than Mayweather.”

Asked whether he believes the fight is possible moving forward, Roach replied: "I'd rather have a good, solid training camp for Crawford, where (Manny is) very focused the whole time, for eight weeks. But Manny is not like that, and he never has been, either, so we'll see."

“Crawford is a very, very difficult fight, but Manny is still a very good fighter - I feel," he added.

[Badhusker]

Roach doesn't want Crawford, lol. How about Errol Spence?

I hope Pac gets his money. Lord knows Arum owes him for all the money he has made off Pac. If Pac wanted to price himself out, he would ask for $50 million guaranteed. He is only asking for what he used to get when his PPV sales were high. This fight would sell big.

As far as Crawford being like a young Mayweather, I see a lot of differences in their styles. Maybe somewhat more similar in Floyd's younger days but still a lot different.

[Best Coast]

Glad Freddie is being honest!! Makes sense Pac expects $20 million...

[canelo-runs-to-flyweight]

Crawford was beaten even by Gamboa for many rounds. Crawford can be beaten with humiliation by many boxers, including pacquaio, Lomachenko, Mikey Garcia. Not to mention 147 guys who would knock-down this champ-for-an-hour in just a couple of rounds.
It has been just a pure luck of Crawford that his division has had no real fighters to show him what real boxing is.
Comparing Crawford to Mayweather or other stars mentioned above is ridiculous. You can call salido as next Mohammad Ali, this will be the same lol , with nothing in common with reality.

[gilgamesh]

Crawford's one of the best in the world today. I am extremely confident he'd beat Pacquiao. I think he would've beaten Pacquiao 2 years ago. He'd definitely beat him now.

[Best Coast]

Crawford was beaten even by Gamboa for many rounds. Crawford can be beaten with humiliation by many boxers, including pacquaio, Lomachenko, Mikey Garcia. Not to mention 147 guys who would knock-down this champ-for-an-hour in just a couple of rounds.
It has been just a pure luck of Crawford that his division has had no real fighters to show him what real boxing is.
Comparing Crawford to Mayweather or other stars mentioned above is ridiculous. You can call salido as next Mohammad Ali, this will be the same lol , with nothing in common with reality.

Sorry, but you're WAY off base. TC is the best since FLoyd at adjusting to a troublesome fighter, which is exactly what he did vs Gamboa!!

[canelo-runs-to-flyweight]

Crawford was beaten even by Gamboa for many rounds. Crawford can be beaten with humiliation by many boxers, including pacquaio, Lomachenko, Mikey Garcia. Not to mention 147 guys who would knock-down this champ-for-an-hour in just a couple of rounds.
It has been just a pure luck of Crawford that his division has had no real fighters to show him what real boxing is.
Comparing Crawford to Mayweather or other stars mentioned above is ridiculous. You can call salido as next Mohammad Ali, this will be the same lol , with nothing in common with reality.

Sorry, but you're WAY off base. TC is the best since FLoyd at adjusting to a troublesome fighter, which is exactly what he did vs Gamboa!!

Funny guys. You will see Crawford be beaten by Garcia in close future if the first decides to accept this punishment fight.

[caldo2025]

Trainer Freddie Roach has acknowledged the skills Terence Crawford possesses ahead of a possible clash between the Omaha fighter and his star boxer Manny Pacquiao.

Talk of a spring clash between the pair has been gathering more pace in recent weeks and Roach admits Pacquiao would be highly challenged by Crawford at this late stage of his career.

"It's a tough fight, but it is one that we have to say yes to if that's the only thing out there," Roach told Fighthub TV.

"We don't want to be just fighting nobodies and so forth just to stay in the game. We still want to be the best."

"The thing is, if you can't be the best in something, or if you have no dream of winning another world title, then you don't need to be in this sport because you'll get hurt.”

On Crawford’s impressive 2016, Roach added: "He seems like he's getting better. He can move for 12 rounds, he has good legs, and he's a bit of a puncher."

“I think he's like a young Mayweather, but he probably has a better punch than Mayweather.”

Asked whether he believes the fight is possible moving forward, Roach replied: "I'd rather have a good, solid training camp for Crawford, where (Manny is) very focused the whole time, for eight weeks. But Manny is not like that, and he never has been, either, so we'll see."

“Crawford is a very, very difficult fight, but Manny is still a very good fighter - I feel," he added.

Very respectful and intelligent response from Roach here. It's a way better look for him instead of the way he's been reacting to his fighter's opposition and trainers recently. I'm not a fan of trainers yapping at other boxers because they are not inside that ring trading punches. Trainers can yap with other trainers because that's more of a direct competition between the two but this is the way i'd like to see trainers react to these types of questions.