Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been mum lately about whom he will fight next, but if there's a Manny Pacquiao rematch in the cards, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach had strong words for the pound-for-pound king.
"He told me that he hurt his shoulder and so forth. I'm not a doctor so I can't tell you how hurt he was," Roach said. "I kept telling him to put pressure on him, catch him against the ropes, but Mayweather is a crafty guy and it was a battle of the science and he outsmarted us a little bit.
"I don't hear of anyone talking about actually making a rematch right now, but I think with two hands he would have knocked him out."
After the fight, Pacquiao said he had won even with his injured shoulder. Pacquiao told HBO's Max Kellerman that he believed he'd landed the better, harder shots and initiated all the fighting while Mayweather just "moved outside."
In his post fight press conference Pacquiao revealed he had fought with an injured shoulder, and soon after had surgery for a torn rotator cuff that will keep him out of action for at least nine months. Mayweather typically fights twice a year, in May and September, so if he holds true to that schedule then Pacquiao is not an option for his next, and likely last fight.
Soon after the fight Mayweather told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith that he would be open to a rematch, but quickly changed course and insulted Pacquiao for his comments about Mayweather's strategy.
"Did I text [ESPN's] Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again?" Mayweather told Showtime's Jim Gray. "Yeah, but I change my mind. At this particular time, no, because he's a sore loser and he's a coward. ... If you lost, accept the loss and say, 'Mayweather, you were the better fighter.'"
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