MANILA, Philippines — Freddie Roach thinks there’s a good chance Manny Pacquiao will fight Terence Crawford in 2017.
This was after Vasyl Lomachencko, Bob Arum's favored opponent for Pacquiao, asked for a full year to prepare himself against the Filipino champion.
"Crawford has the better chance [over Lomachenko to get the fight]. Lomachenko said that he wants to fight at 130 and wants one year to get ready for the fight. I said, 'You want a whole year to get ready for the fight?' " Roach said on BoxingScene.com.
Roach acknowledges that Crawford, who battles John Molina this weekend for two super lightweight belts, will be a tough match for Pacquiao because he fights just like Floyd Mayweather Jr.
"He's a dangerous guy. That could be our next fight," Roach said.
"If we don’t get a rematch with Mayweather and so forth, then that's a fight we may need to take because we still want to be on top of the game. We can't just fight stiffs. We have to fight the best guys out there."
But Roach said he'd prefer that Pacquiao square off with Mexican middleweight Canelo Alvarez.
Yup, a natural middleweight fighter.
Roach said he doesn't see the size disparity between Pacquiao and Alvarez being an issue. Pacquiao stands 5-foot-6 1/2, while Alvarez is 5-foot-9.
"I like Alvarez a little bit better [for Pacquiao], but the thing is can I put a cap on how much he gains after the weigh-in? That’s the key," Roach said.
"The IBF rule [regarding their fight day rehydration clause], 10 pounds, something like that."
Roach said they will demand a catch weight if Alvarez is interested.
"I'd rather have the fight at 147 of course, but we’d have to do a catch weight," he said.
"I think that’s the issue that's keeping that fight from not happening right away. I'm sure that Golden Boy and Top Rank would both love to have that fight, because I think it's a very competitive fight."
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