Golovkin's trainer says Pacquiao still has it

MANILA, Philippines – The trainer of one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today believes Manny Pacquiao can still compete at the elite level.

Abel Sanchez, trainer of undefeated middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, sees no problem with Pacquiao’s decision to continue fighting, saying the Filipino icon still has a lot left in the tank

“I think that he [Pacquiao] still has a lot left. I think that he's still young in today's boxing,” Sanchez recently told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.

The cornerman is renowned for doing a great job on Golovkin, who holds the unified WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO middleweight titles and is considered as one of the faces of boxing today. He was asked about Pacquiao’s upcoming fight with American Jessie Vargas in November.

He pointed out the huge gap between Pacquiao in Vargas in terms of skill level.

“I think that he [Pacquiao]'s in with a guy that he should be able to beat. Jessie is a good fighter, he's just not on the level of Manny Pacquiao,” Sanchez added.

The General Santos City-based fighter is coming off an impressive win over Timothy Bradley last April where he scored two knockdowns.

Additionally, Pacquiao is entering the fight as an overwhelming favorite to dethrone Vargas, the WBO welterweight champion, on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Sanchez, for his part, agrees with the odds.

“He's going to beat Vargas. Vargas is not quite the fighter that Manny is. Manny is not past the point where guys like that can beat him,” he said.

Sanchez last worked Golovkin’s corner in September, guiding the heavy-handed Kazakh star to a TKO win over Kell Brook to improve his perfect record to 36-0, with 33 KOs.