FT Chronicle

Freddie Roach called for a fight with Israel’s World Boxing Association (WBA) light-middleweight champion Yuri Foreman and his ward, Manny Pacquiao, the seven-time world champion, for an astonishing eighth world title.

Foreman claimed the WBA super welterweight championship in one of the Pacquiao-Cotto under-cards, with a 12-round unanimous decision over Puerto Rico’s Daniel Santos.

Press reports quoted Roach as saying that while the boxing world anticipated a blockbuster welterweight showdown with returning American Floyd Mayweather Jr., it would have to wait until after May 10 Philippine elections.

Pacquiao however said he was focused on the election, and the Filipino hero registered a bid for a congressional seat representing the southern province of Sarangani.

“There’s nothing to it at this time,” he said of the reports that Roach wanted him to fight the undefeated Foreman at 154 pounds (70 kilos) in March.

“I have not spoken to him (Roach) about it,” Pacquiao said by telephone.

He said that if elected: “I will work for children, for the health of our countrymen and for their livelihood.”