<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;HOLLYWOOD, Calif. \u2013 Late Wednesday afternoon at the Wild Card Boxing Club, a familiar routine took place. There was the boxer Manny Pacquiao, and his trainer Freddie Roach, inside the ring, preparing for another fight. Pacquiao threw punches into Roach\u2019s gloves, as the two debated strategy for their third meeting with Tim Bradley, scheduled for April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;SI.com spent time Wednesday with both men, interviewing Pacquiao at the gym after his workout and Roach over steaks at Musso &amp;amp; Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard. We\u2019ll have plenty of coverage in the week before the fight, but wanted to give readers a few news items here.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Pacquiao thinking about Olympics:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;Manny Pacquiao is thinking about fighting in the Olympics, where his home country, the Philippines, has never medaled. \u201CI\u2019m considering it, but have not decided,\u201D he said. \u201CIt would be a big honor to represent my country.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One thing he\u2019d need is approval. As it stands, once boxers become professionals, they forfeit their Olympic eligibility. But there is a vote in May on whether to allow professional boxers to compete in Rio this summer at the Games. If that passes, boxers like Pacquiao could join top athletes such as Roger Federer, LeBron James and Rory McIlroy in Olympic competition.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CHe asked me if I\u2019d train him,\u201D Roach said. \u201COf course.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. The future for Pacquiao:&lt;/strong&gt; While his third tilt with Bradley, which will take place 11 months after Pacquiao lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr., has been billed as perhaps Pacquiao\u2019s final career bout, Roach doesn\u2019t think so. Pacquiao said he isn\u2019t sure. But when he retires, after this fight or three more, he may not do so alone. \u201CI told him,&amp;nbsp;I\u2019ll retire when you retire,\u201D Roach said. \u201CMaybe this is&amp;nbsp;my&amp;nbsp;last fight.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I asked Roach if that was because of the severe back pain that has bothered him in recent years that stems from an inflamed sciatic nerve. He said it was more because he\u2019ll never have another fighter like Pacquiao. He doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019d do if he didn\u2019t train fighters, but he doesn\u2019t want to spend the rest of his life waiting for another Pacquiao to walk through the door, either.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CEveryone comes to me with fighters and tells me,&amp;nbsp;this is the next Manny Pacquiao, this is the next Manny Pacquaio,\u201D Roach said. \u201CI know for a fact that in all of our lifetimes we won\u2019t live long enough to see another one. Because nobody\u2019s going to do what he did. They might have similarities, might look like him, but there\u2019s no guy out there that\u2019s going to win eight world titles like him. It\u2019s not going to happen.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pacquiao did tell Roach that it\u2019s harder for him to recover than it used to be. He told Roach he needed the 10 months off after the Mayweather fight. \u201CIt ends for everybody,\u201D Roach said. \u201CIt\u2019s like watching Klitschko last fight. All of a sudden he don\u2019t have nothing. I think it\u2019s over.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI mean, you\u2019re a contender one time at one moment, and then you\u2019re a f---ing bum the next.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Pacquiao on recent anti-gay statements:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;Pacquiao did not deny the comments attributed to him from a television interview in the Philippines in which he described people in gay relationships as \u201Cworse than animals.\u201D His camp offered not unfamiliar explanations we\u2019ve heard from other athletes who have been condemned \u2013 Nike dropped Pacquiao as its sponsor, HBO blasted his views \u2013 before. They said the clip was part of a longer interview and may have been taken out of context. Pacquiao didn\u2019t avoid the subject, but he didn\u2019t have much to say about it, either. \u201CFans know what\u2019s in my heart,\u201D he said.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was the full quote attributed to Pacquiao:&amp;nbsp;\u201CIt\u2019s common sense. Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female. If men mate with men and women mate with women, they are worse than animals.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThe thing is, that went away so fast in the Philippines,\u201D Roach said. \u201CNobody talked about it. I think there was something lost in translation.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to hurt the fight,\u201D he continued. \u201CTrue fight fans are true fight fans. I don\u2019t know if people really care about that stuff. I mean, he keeps trying to correct it and post Bible verses, but he\u2019s having a tough time.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Pacquiao\u2019s&amp;nbsp;shoulder injury:&lt;/strong&gt; I asked Roach when he knew that Pacquiao had injured his right shoulder before the Mayweather fight. He said it happened on April 6, 2015. He said it was a five-year-old injury that Pacquiao just happened to tear a month before he faced Mayweather. Roach had Pacquiao take a few days off from training and even swapped in a new group of lighter sparring partners.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CBy fight time, I thought he was 100 percent again,\u201D Roach said. \u201CBecause he was blasting me again with both hands, and everything seemed fine. I said,&amp;nbsp;f---, he\u2019s not hurt. He can still punch. In the warm-up, I had no problem with it. But then after the fourth round, after that flurry [he hit Mayweather with], he tore it.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On&amp;nbsp;Mayweather, Roach said, \u201CHe did surprise me with his jab. I didn\u2019t think his jab was as good as it really is. And he has a lot of range with that.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5. On preparations for fight vs. Bradley:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Pacquiao arrived in the U.S. for this fight less than two weeks ago. Roach found his boxer\u2019s workouts sluggish throughout last week. He chalked that up to age and jet lag. This Tuesday, though, he said Pacquiao had his best day of sparring.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At one point, Roach asked him, \u201CWhere\u2019s that old Manny Pacquiao? You can still punch like crazy if you want to.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Roach also told Pacquiao, \u201CWe\u2019re not going to go with the hook this time. We\u2019re going with the straight left hand. I said you\u2019ll knock him out like that just like when you knocked out Ricky Hatton.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The straight left is keeping Roach\u2019s left shoulder in severe pain as they prepare for Pacquiao-Bradley III. \u201CHe\u2019s doing a lot better than he thinks,\u201D Roach said. \u201CThe only problem we\u2019re having is the sparring a little bit now. He\u2019s loose with it. His sparring is one of those things that he never gives me 100 percent anyway. But the mitts are what I\u2019ve always gauged him on. On the mitts he\u2019s as good as I\u2019ve ever seen him. He hits f---ing hard.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6. Who is the next opponent:&lt;/strong&gt; In a perfect world, Roach wants Pacquiao to fight Bradley, then Saul \u201CCanelo\u201D Alvarez, then rematch with Mayweather. Roach said Bob Arum, Pacquiao\u2019s promoter and the founder of Top Rank Boxing, asked him if Pacquiao could handle Alvarez, who is a significantly larger boxer. \u201CI think Manny can beat him,\u201D Roach said.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI have a feeling that this isn\u2019t Manny\u2019s last fight,\u201D Roach continued. \u201CBut Manny does need a fight that he\u2019s going to look good in. He\u2019s going to show that his shoulder is 100 percent. There\u2019s no way if his shoulder is still bad that people are going to buy Pay Per View from him. So I think this is a good test \u2013 to show the world that his shoulder\u2019s fine.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mayweather has said he\u2019ll never fight again. Roach isn\u2019t so sure. Do you really think he can beat Floyd, I asked Roach. \u201C100 percent,\u201D Roach said.\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/boxing/2016/03/24/manny-pacquiao-tim-bradley-freddie-roach-mayweather-olympics-philippines>