Freddie Roach: Manny Pacquiao wants to win by knockout to quiet everyone down a bit

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

On Saturday night, eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao will face WBO Light Welterweight champion Chris Algieri in Macau for Manny’s welterweight title. The Filipino champion is coming off consecutive victories over Brandon Rios and Timothy Bradley but has come under fire recently for not finishing any of his opponents since a 2009 stoppage win over Miguel Cotto.

Longtime coach Freddie Roach revealed at a pre-fight media scrum that Pacquiao was interested in a decisive conclusion to this fight simply to silence his doubters.

“I think deep down he really wants to win by knockout and kinda (sic) quiet everyone down a bit about how he hasn’t knocked anyone out in a while.” Roach told the media. “(Provodnikov) is not Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao is a much better boxer, much smarter, much more experienced. When Manny knocks you down twice, he knows what to do with it, believe me.”

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.