Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach has expressed his dismay at what Buboy Fernandez has said about him.
Fernandez took over the role of head coach to Manny Pacquiao after Roach was unceremoniously sacked in the wake of the Filipino phenom’s loss to Australian Jeff Horn in 2017.
After Pacquaio’s WBA welterweight championship win over previously undefeated Keith Thurman in Las Vegas on July 20, Roach suggested he would advise Pacquiao to retire if he saw signs of him slowing down.
But Fernandez has hit back at Roach, saying he doesn’t have the authority to determine the future of Pacquiao’s career.
“If I ever see signs of him slowing down, I’d be the first one to say it. Buboy said the other day that I don’t have the power to do that. Buboy, I don’t have the power to do that but my suggestion to him would be honest,” said Roach to the Manila Bulletin.
“I am really pissed off that he said that about me.”
Roach believes that the 40-year-old Pacquiao needs to be careful who he selects to fight next as he enters the final stage of his long and storied career.
“There’s a couple of guys that maybe we should stay away from and these guys are young, young, young killers,” said Roach, referring to the unbeaten pair of IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr, 29, and WBO boss Terence Crawford, 31. “It’s unfair.”
Roach admitted he was concerned about Pacquiao when he couldn’t see in the aftermath of his victory over Thurman but said he wouldn’t rule out a fight against the young guns of the 147-pound division.
“If Manny sucks it up what he did in the last fight and shows these young guys how it’s all about… I mean, it’s just not over yet because his health is good, his mind,” continued Roach.
“But when I saw him shadowboxing in the morning, I knew that he was okay.”
