‘Old injury may cause Manny’s fall’

NEW YORK CITY – Freddie Roach’s greatest fear heading to Manny Pacquiao’s farewell fight is for his boxer to hurt his shoulder and end up losing to Timothy Bradley.

“I’m worried about that shoulder (being hurt) and if that happened we can end up losing,” said Roach Thursday at the Madison Square Garden.

Roach flew in from Los Angeles just for the press conference and left the Big Apple as soon as everything that has to do with promoting the April 9 fight was over.

Pacquiao went to see the doctor in Los Angeles last Tuesday and according to Mike Koncz, the adviser, there’s no reason to worry.

“It’s a hundred percent okay,” said Koncz.

Pacquiao tore a rotator cuff on his right shoulder just weeks before the super fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May, and aggravated the injury early in the fight itself.

It kept Pacquiao out of commission – 11 months to be exact by the time he climbs the ring at the MGM Grand to face Bradley for the third time.

Roach just isn’t taking any assurance that the injury won’t kick back in before or during the fight.

“It (losing) could happen,” he said.

But the celebrated trainer believes that Pacquiao can be at his old self and his usual best for what should be his final fight.

“I expect Manny to be at his best. I expect Manny to knock him out this time,” he said.

Pacquiao is going to retire after the fight so he could concentrate on his duties as a politician, especially if he is elected to the Senate in May.

Pacquiao has vowed a knockout, an impressive win.

“It’s the firrst time he brought that up to me, not me. He’s the first one to talk about a knockout this time,” he said.

Being a senator and a fighter at the same time, the trainer said, isn’t going to happen.

“The thing is if he wins as a senator it’s very hard to be a senator and a fighter at the same time. There’s a lot more responsibility than in congress. So I don’t think he will really have to do both,” he said.

“It will be unfair to the country and unfair to him to try to do both. I think that will be too much on his plate,” he said.

Roach wants Pacquiao to come out with an impressive victory, and be remembered the way he should be.

“As the greatest fighter of his era – by far, an eight-time world champion, and the greatest fighter of my life,” said Roach.