Manny Pacquiao's Coach Responds To Freddie Roach's Gennady Golovkin Fight Suggestion

Manny Pacquiao’s conditioning coach has shared his thoughts on Freddie Roach’s idea of a Gennady Golovkin vs. Pacquiao middleweight bout.

While Pacquiao’s next opponent in the welterweight division has not yet been named, his former and longtime trainer Roach suddenly hinted at the Filipino legend moving up to middleweight. Even more surprising was Roach name-dropping current IBF middleweight champ Golovkin as an opponent Pacquiao might consider. And despite all the risks involved, moving up has worked well for Pacquiao in the past.

However, Justin Fortune, Pacquiao’s conditioning coach, recently spoke to The Manila Times via an overseas call to finally give his two cents on Roach’s idea. According to Fortune, he’s not sure if Roach was just “joking” when he mentioned Golovkin. Fortune noted that he is skeptical about this plan as “GGG” is a natural middleweight and is the best in his division.

“I didn’t know if Freddie [Roach] was joking. It’s a 147-pounder against a full-fledged middleweight. I mean, it’s not like an ordinary man away. Golovkin is a good, [the] best middleweight. So, I don’t know. I doubt it,” Fortune explained.

The veteran coach further stated that it would be “silly” to take on a much heavier and bigger fighter. As for Golovkin vs. Pacquiao, Fortune said that both men are power punchers but insisted that it’s still not a good idea.

“I will recommend against it. It’s a 147-pounder against, like I said, a full-fledged middleweight. And you [know] that Manny is very fast and punches very, very hard. But I think Golovkin punches very, very hard, too. If I was a middleweight, I wouldn’t go fight a heavyweight, that [would] be silly,” he added.

In case Golovkin vs. Pacquiao comes to fruition, it would be the first time for the eight-division title holder to face a natural middleweight. The biggest opponent Pacquiao has shared the ring with was Mexican star Antonio Margarito.

Despite the significant size difference, “Pac-Man” still dismantled Margarito and won via unanimous decision for the World Boxing Council light middleweight belt in Texas 10 years ago. The victory made Pacquiao become the only boxer in history to win world titles in eight weight divisions.

Aside from Fortune, Pacquiao’s former promoter, Bob Arum, also thinks a fight with Golovkin would be silly. Instead, Arum wants Pacquiao to stay at 147 and face Terence Crawford in a unification bout or perhaps Errol Spence Jr.

“He would have a real test against Terence Crawford or Errol Spence, guys like that. But to go up any higher would be silly,” Arum said.