Manny Pacquiao and Ruslan Provodnikov are very good friends and have been training under Freddie Roach over the past several years, but the two boxing stars could end up facing each other.
In an interview with ESPN, Roach admitted that his two fighters might be pitted against each other if Provodnikov scores an impressive win against Chris Algieri in his first defense of his WBO light welterweight title on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Roach previously insisted that he will not let his fighters square off against each other, but he admitted that the demand is getting stronger, especially now that Pacquiao is losing quality opponents.
"Manny is my No. 1 guy and so forth, but Ruslan is very close to me," Roach said. "And Ruslan has been a very hard worker. But the demand is getting closer and closer, so with the win here [on Saturday] it could happen. And Manny is running out of opponents right now, and that's the way it goes."
Roach also said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that Provodnikov's camp asked him to make the fight happen. The Hall of Fame trainer made it clear that he will go with Pacquiao, which means that Provodnikov will have to find a new trainer, and the Russian champion's camp sounded like they are ready to do so in order to get the big fight.
"I still don't really have interest in that fight, but his manager came begging to me to make it happen, and I asked Ruslan, 'Do you really want to make that fight happen? You're going to lose me as a trainer, and have a slim chance of winning. Well, we need big fights like that.' I said, 'If you want it, I'll give it to you.'"
Roach said that a fifth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez is still their top option as they are aching to avenge Pacquiao's sixth-round knockout loss in their fourth showdown, but the Mexican remains cold about the idea of facing his nemesis again.
Aside from Marquez and Provodnikov, former stablemate Amir Khan and reigning WBA and WBC junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia is also being considered as Pacquiao's possible opponent in his next fight on November 22 in Macau.
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