Roach wonders if Pacquiao is mad at him, says he hasn’t been paid

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach says that in the immediate aftermath of Manny Pacquiao’s loss to Jeff Horn he wanted to check up on Pacquiao’s mindset in the locker room — but instead got a bit of the silent treatment from his fighter.

“I was trying to see where his head was at,” Roach says. “And I could not even get him to say hi to me. I don’t know if he was upset with me or what.”

This is something Roach has never experienced with Pacquiao in over a decade of training him. Roach suggests that one possible reason for Pacquiao ignoring him was perhaps because Pacquiao was afraid that Roach would immediately call for his retirement. But Roach says he would never have embarrassed Pacquiao like that in front of so many people in a crowded locker room. He just wanted to make sure Pacquiao was okay.

Pacquiao holds a contractual rematch clause with Horn should he choose to exercise it, but Roach is clear that no matter where Pacquiao goes in from here in boxing, should he not retire, he won’t be co-signing a Pacquiao fight against Terence Crawford.

“If we fight Terance Crawford right now, he’s very athletic,” Roach says. “He’s very mobile. He’s like a young Manny Pacquiao. I don’t think we want to fight a guy like that, at this point.”

So whatever Pacquiao is thinking right now, Roach clearly isn’t in the know. He plans on having an in depth conversation with Pacquiao about his future at a later date. For now, Freddie Roach just knows that his pockets are feeling a little light.

“I really don’t know if he’s mad at me,” Roach says. “But I can tell you this: I haven’t been paid yet. So who knows?”

Awkward...