By JONAS TERRADO
There’s no doubt in Freddie Roach’s mind that Manny Pacquiao will handily beat Conor McGregor if plans for a megabuck boxing match between the two fighters push through.
Roach is so confident that facing McGregor would be an easier one compared to Pacquiao’s brutal beating of Ricky Hatton in May 2009.
“If this is true, @MannyPacquiao will have an easier time with you @TheNotoriousMMA (McGregor’s Twitter account) than when he fought @HitmanHatton (Hatton’s account),” Roach said in his reply to McGregor’s tweet regarding a possible faceoff with Pacquiao.
It would be recalled that Pacquiao needed just two rounds to beat Hatton, who was sent to the canvas thrice during the fight held at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao floored him twice in the first bell before knocking Hatton cold in the next round with a left hook to the chin.
That third knockdown was so devastating that referee Kenny Bayless didn’t hesitate in stopping the fight at 2:59.
The defeat had psychological effects on Hatton, who didn’t return to the squared circle until returning in Nov. 2012 for one final bout at his hometown of Manchester.
McGregor is eyeing a second ring appearance, his first ending with a 10-round TKO loss to unbeaten Floyd Mayweather in a fight that generated $55 million in gate attendance, 4.4 million buys in the United States and over a million in the United Kingdom.
That is something Pacquiao and McGregor are hoping at least equal, even if Roach sees his long-time pupil winning in one-sided fashion.
