Roach says "Manny will fight shane at 142 not 147"

[Rantcatrat]

After reading this article I'm convinced that roach knew ODLH was done and he knew making him come down to 147 to fight manny would basically make him look like the zombie he was...

Now as far as making Shane drop five pounds when he hasn't been that small since 1999, is another example of roach knowing that kind of weight loss would do just enough to give Manny the slight edge in terms of conditioning. This to me should be viewed in the same light as Floyd being accused of "cherry picking". But at least floyd went up to 154 to fight oscar which is why oscar looked so much better against floyd. Manny should fight the WW's at 147 or the LWW's at 140....this catch weight shit is ridiculous esp when he soundedly beat a "game" oscar...


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I'm not a Pac man groupie, but to say that he is cherry picking like Mayweather is ridiculous.

Manny is stepping up in weight to fight bigger men. Mayweather makes smaller men step up in weight to fight him and not fighting any of the men who are natural at that weight. That's the difference. Case in point, Manny fought his first fight at 140 against the champion of the division, Hatton, who Mayweather fought at 147.

Manny is choosing who he fights, but that is boxing. And, look at his potential options: Cotto, Mosley, or Mayweather. Most boxing fans have wanted Floyd to fight Cotto or Mosley for at least two years, if not longer. Before the Hatton fight, after the Hatton fight pre-retirement, and before the un-retirement.

What is ridiculous is that Manny may actually fight Cotto before Mayweather does.

its the same thing...(1) Floyd isnt naturally 147 either, he moved up and beat the lineal champs at 147..

(2) ricky hatton moved up to challenge floyd for his p4p belt which is what all the smaller fighters are really fighting over, and since floyd is pound for pound the best in the sport anyone that wants to fight him should go to 147...this is like floyd challenging pavlik for the belt then demanding that he meet him at 155...

PACMAN fought oscar who was at 154 at WW...if (3) he can fight a LMW then he can fight WWs its that simple..other than that ,the catch weight crap is just the same as roy jones demanding 100million to fight lennox lewis...just another way to get out of the fight...

and if cotto drops to 140 to fight PACMAN then it will be because arum and cottos people talked him into accepting the high risk/ high reward fight..besides cotto isn as old as PBF or SHANE..esp shane who hasn't been that small in over 10years...cotto might be able to handle the weight loss better than the older two fighters..which is probably why roach demands that cotto drops the most weight out of the three...(4) its the same as pricing yourself out....floyd might consider the catchweight because he's arrongant enough to do it..but shane and cotto would only be doing it for the mega bucks...

Response is numbered

1. Floyd isn't a natural 147? Why then has he fought at or above 145 since 2005? And why has he required all his most recent fights against smaller opponents to be at that weight? If he was as effective at 140, why wouldn't he fight at that weight? And just to keep it in perspective, the lineal champion you refer to was big, bad...Carlos Baldomir. He hasn't fought one other champion at 147. Don't kid yourself - not one!
2. You make the point for why Hatton or another smaller fighter would want to move up to fight Floyd, and you are right. But, you don't respond to why Floyd would want to fight them when he has a deep crop of top tier welterweights to fight. He is a welterweight - they are junior welterweights and lightweights. (Not that it is a great point anyway, but Pacquiao went to Hatton's natural weight to fight him when he was p4p #1)
3. Pacquiao fought ODLH at 147 because he is too small to fight a natural lmw. He is 5'6! The weight was an attempt at evening the playing field because he couldn't beat a natural light middleweight. But if you are going to make that argument, it must apply to Floyd too, right? If he fought ODLH at 154, he can fight lmw's. Instead, Floyd, supposedly the p4p best in the world, has fight junior welterweights and lightweights.
4. There are two ways to look at it and your way - that using your leverage as p4p #1 to make heavier boxers come to you is pricing yourself out - is one way. I don't disagree. The other way to look at it is that Pacquiao wants to fight Shane and Cotto, but they are too big for him at 147 and that fighting at 142 evens the playing field. One thing that is certain is that Marquez fighting Floyd at 147 is NOT an even playing field.

Shane isn't making 142, at least not a healthy Shane. Then again, fighting true elite welterweights may be too much of a challenge for Pacquiao. We are talking about a guy who started fighting at 108. Maybe he should stick to fighting junior welterweights and lightweights. There are undoubtedly some good fights in those weight classes. I don't necessarily disagree with that. One thing I agree with is that fighting Shane at 142 is not winning a title in a 7th weight class. No way.