Marquez would pay to see Pacquiao-Canelo; Roach wants Crawford

HOLLYWOOD – While Manny Pacquiao is happily retired for now, talks about potential opponents continue to swirl, especially after he looked good against Timothy Bradley last Saturday in  Las Vegas.

Bradley himself is convinced that Pacquiao is still good for some fights and shouldn't retire.

Apart from a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, collisions with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and rising star Terence Crawford are among the most intriguing.

Both match-ups, however, come with pros and cons.

Pacquiao’s archrival Juan Manuel Marquez pointed out the obvious fact that there’s a big discrepancy in weight between Pacquiao and Alvarez, who fights in the middleweight division (160 pounds) and is the current WBC champion.

‘’I don't know. Pacquiao is retired now. Canelo is too big big of a fighter. He is two divisions (higher),” Marquez recently said in a boxingscene.com.

Pacquiao’s fight with Bradley was at welterweight (147 pounds), yet Freddie Roach stressed that the Filipino icon’s optimum fighting weight is at super lightweight (140 pounds) or even lightweight (135 pounds).

But Marquez, who engaged Pacquiao in four epic bouts, would pay to see his rival clash with Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs).

“I would like to see Canelo (fight Pacquiao). He is too big for Manny, but I would like to see that fight. I don't know. Canelo is a younger fighter and has power, but I think maybe the people want to see that fight,” the master counterpuncher explained.

“Canelo is a big guy. The thing is, I'm sure that if we fought a guy like that we'd have to out a cap on how much weight we can again after the weigh-in,” he added of his fellow Mexican superstar, who takes on Amir Khan this May.

Roach, for his part, prefers a Pacquiao showdown with Crawford , the undefeated WBO super lightweight champion.

“My favorite [fight for Pacquiao] is Terence Crawford though. Manny's best fighting weight is 140-pounds and I think that's a great fight for us,” Roach told at the Pacquiao-Bradley 3 post-fight presser.

The problem with fighting Crawford, however, is the American’s drawing power.

"I've told everybody the same freaking thing over and over again: Crawford is an excellent, excellent fighter. A future star for Top Rank and for boxing. But Crawford wasn't known to the people," Top Rank boss Arum told reporters a few days before Pacquiao scored a unanimous decision win over Bradley in Las Vegas.