Pacquiao wants a breather; no fights until June

MANILA, Philippines - Three fights. Three wins. Two championships. One legend downed.

Nobody can blame Manny Pacquiao if he decides to rest on his laurels.

After his eight-round demolition of Oscar de la Hoya on Sunday, Pacquiao looks to have an extended break and doesn't see himself getting back in the ring until middle of next year.

"Let's see if we can do it again may be May or June?" Pacquiao told reporters while he was signing autographs on Sunday just outside the press room of the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.

For the fight with de la Hoya, Pacquiao trained for nine weeks, the longest he had in training camp.

He fought Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz in two title fights in a span of three months between April and June. In each of his meetings with Marquez, Diaz and de la Hoya, Pacquiao needed to go up in weight.

Trainer Freddie Roach, who admitted to also being exhausted, said he and Pacquiao both needed the rest.

"With Christmas coming up and his birthday party and he's going to have a baby soon," Roach said, "We'll need six months to rest before we start training again."

As who the next guy will be on line, Roach said it’s a toss up between hard-hitting Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the acknowledged pound-for-pound king before he retired recently.

Given a choice, Roach admitted he was leaning toward the latter.

"Hatton is the best fight out there for us right now, money-wise, style-wise. He's a hard guy. He likes to fight. It would be a very interesting fight. I think the world would love to see that and Manny has been always wants to give the world what they want," he said.

Then again, Roach pointed out he’s not the one to decide on it.

"A lot depends on what makes sense. The economy is bad right now and we can't wait too long because I want to see Manny fight Hatton and Mayweather and retire the greatest fighter of all time," Roach added.

But for now? "I just want to enjoy this for a while." - GMANews.TV

Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/138073/Pacquiao-wants-a-breather-no-fights-until-June

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