LOS ANGELES — Freddie Roach wants Manny Pacquiao to take a sabbatical from boxing for six months.
Roach said that while Pacquiao scored a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito over the weekend in Texas, the Filipino took a severe pounding from the 165-lb Mexican slugger.
“He needs a nice, long rest,” Roach told Manila-based scribes at the Wild Card Boxing Club on Monday.
Pacquiao hasn’t decided when and where his next fight will be, leaving it all up to his promoter Bob Arum to make the call and it doesn’t look like that he will be in a boxing mood for the next few months.
Although Margarito’s face took the form of a mangled squash from Pacquiao’s power punches, Roach said Pacquiao was in trouble in the tenth round when he got caught with shots to the ribcage.
“That was a hard and physical shot and Manny almost went down,” said Roach, referring to the moment in that round when Margarito struck the hardest as Pacquiao was pinned on the ropes in his corner.
Still, Roach likewise felt the pain that Margarito went through and believed that be will never fight again or he will never be a threat again because the punishment that he took was too much.
Canadian Mike Koncz, who acts as Pacquiao’s adviser, echoed the same sentiment as Roach, stressing that his big boss needs to relax after all the sacrifices that he has taken the past few months and the punishment that he endured against Margarito.
“I haven’t talked to him yet about the future but I think he has to take a break for a while,” said Koncz.
While Pacquiao takes a break from boxing, he will have all the time in the world to concentrate on his congressional duties and prepare for his 32nd birthday celebration on Dec. 17.
He flew to Lake Tahoe on Monday night to fulfill a previous commitment after being cleared by doctors who checked on him.
“Manny just had a checkup and took an x-ray, that’s it,” said Koncz.
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