Assuming Roach DOESN'T do the right thing and tell Pacquaio to RETIRE, who would you match him up against? Marcos Maidana Amir Khan Lamont Peterson Lucas Matthysse Danny Garcia Zab Judah Humberto Soto (For you Aztlan) Victor Ortiz Andre Berto Mike Jones Paul Malignaggi Devon Alexander Kell Brook Robert Guerrero Andre Berto
He'd still beat all those guys. But he needs to retire. Maybe take a farewell fight against someone like Rios, and end it on a high note. Other than that he needs to think about retirement. He doesn't need to end up like other boxers who went on too long ; Pac has plenty of things going on outside of boxing.
I really struggle to name examples of sub-cruiser world level boxers who have been savagely rendered unconscious, and be anything more than a shadow of the fighter they were pre-KO; let alone bounce back quickly to near the level they were at. With that type of KO, it surely takes at least 2-3yrs, and 5-6 fights to have any hope of recovering from it and regaining past form? Manny is 34 next week, and well, does he have 2-3yrs and 5-6 fights? It's a genuine question, can anyone give me examples of decent fighters who have been knocked out like that, lying for several minutes unconscious on the floor, ie: Hatton, RJJ, Williams, and bounced back both quickly and as good as before? History is littered with fighters who have one last fight for redemption or to chase past glory. I really would hate Pacquiao to end up that way.
Pac should leave top rank then build himself back up fightin goldenboy fighters like, Ortiz, Berto Alexander them type of people then make a Mayweather fight then a farewell fight then retire
he can beat Amir Khan to the Canvas. Khan likes to do a little dance before he falls over. Manny just drops face down.
Floyd (if that still hopefully can be arranged, this time with waaay lesser money for Pac). Marq 5 (still would make sense, because Pac was re-arranging JMM's face and busting him up good, got careless and bam! that fateful punch...) Rios (for the action and regaining of the glory, and would still be easy to make and fairly financially lucrative for him) Garcia (if he gets past Judah), Matthyse, Guerrero... In that order, for me that is. ;-)
There was nothing wrong with Manny in this fight. He would beat all of those fighters boxing and fighting like he did tonight.
I'd still favor Pacquiao over all of them. A fifth fight with Marquez, though, is something I don't want to see. Every single time they fight, Marquez does better and better. And it culminated in absurdly brutal fashion tonight.