Roach says Bradley ducked Khan, may not deserve Pacquiao fight

RingTV.com caught up to five-time Trainer of the Year Freddie Roach, who arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday night following three weeks of training in the Philippines with Manny Pacquiao.

The two are preparing for an HBO Pay Per View-televised defense of Pacquiao's WBO welterweight crown opposite WBO and WBA lightweight beltholder Juan Manuel Marquez (53-5-1, 39 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Nov. 12.

Roach offered his thoughts on a potential matchup between Pacquiao and current WBO junior welterweight beltholder Tim Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs), whose signing with Top Rank Inc. -- also Pacquiao's promoter -- was officially announced last week.

"Since [Top Rank Inc. CEO] Bob Arum has signed him, that's what everyone is assuming -- that Manny Pacquiao is next for Tim Bradley. So maybe I will have to assume that too," said Roach.

"Timothy Bradley, if he gets the fight with Manny Pacquiao, then that's a big fight for Bradley. So if that's what's going to happen, then that's something that we will have to deal with."

Bradley will make an appearance on the Pacquiao-Marquez III undercard against former four-time titleholder and Cuban Olympic gold medalist Joel Casamayor (38-5-1, 22 KOs).

"Well, Tim Bradley, you've got to put him on the undercard to create interest. That's a good idea. But who is Tim Bradley? Manny Pacquiao is a great draw. But how many people can Bradley draw for Manny Pacquiao?" said Roach.

"Bradley is a tough kid. But you know, it's really hard to look forward beyond Juan Manuel Marquez. But I guess that if you have to mention Tim Bradley, then I'm like, 'Is that all that we've got? Tim Bradley?'"

Bradley's biggest wins have come against former world titleholders Kendall Holt and Devon Alexander, as well as contender Lamont Peterson, with Alexander and Peterson suffering their lone defeats against Bradley.

Roach believes Bradley could be in tough against the 40-year-old Casamayor, who successfully rebounded from a loss to Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs) by scoring a split-decision win over junior welterweight Manuel Lueva (18-3, 10 KOs) in March.

Casamayor was stopped for the first time in his career by Marquez, losing via 11th-round knockout in September of 2008. At the time of the stoppage, Casamayor trailed Marquez 97-93 on one judge's card, with the other two having it even at 95-95.

"You know, Bradley obviously has to look good on this show, but they're putting him in against an opponent that he should look good against," said Roach.

"But because Casamayor can be a spoiler, again, I think that it's way to prematurely talk about Bradley being in there against Pacquiao."

Still, Bradley appears to be a consensus consideration to meet Pacquiao, should Pacquiao get beyond his third meeting with the 38-year-old Marquez and fail, yet again, to earn a megabucks bout opposite newly-crowned WBC beltholder Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KOs).

Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations have twice fallen apart over the issue of drug testing.

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