Roach urges networks to push for Pacquiao-Mayweather tiff

MANILA, Philippines – Trainer Freddie Roach is calling out two of the biggest boxing broadcasting networks in the US to help push for a megabuck fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

This comes a few days after the World Boxing Council, one of the sports’ major sanctioning organizations, publicly expressed its support for the fight.

Roach commended the WBC for its declaration, and now asks fight broadcasters HBO and Showtime to do their part and help make the bout happen.

“The WBC made the right step towards this fight. It would certainly be a great match. But now we need the networks, HBO and Showtime, to make an agreement with each other,” the trainer said in a report by Yuri Tarantin Allboxing.ru.

Pacquiao’s fights are aired by HBO in the US, while rival Showtime holds the rights to broadcast Mayweather’s bouts. The Filipino icon will take on Chris Algieri in November while Mayweather is taking time off after outpointing Marcos Maidana in their rematch last September 14.

The undefeated American has two fights left in his deal with Showtime and plans to retire afterwards. Boxing observers still hope he finally faces Pacquiao in a fight seen to shatter existing pay-per-view records and provide career-high purses to both boxers.

Roach, for his part, cited the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis heavyweight title fight more than a decade ago as a perfect example of how HBO and Showtime found common ground to make a major bout happen.

“The situation with the networks was the main reason things were difficult before [they began] negotiations for the fight with Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, but then everyone agreed to achieve a common goal,” recalled Roach, referring to the 2002 megabout that saw Lewis knocking out Tyson in the eighth round.

For Roach, it happened before and can happen again.

“So they should do the same thing again,” he said.