Pacquiao mulling a swing at Games

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach will back Manny Pacquiao if the eight-division world champion decides to take advantage of rule changes that could see professional boxers allowed to take part in this summer's Olympics.

Pacquiao said on Wednesday he is yet to decide on whether he will pursue a spot on the Philippines team, appearing to pull back from an earlier statement in which he said he would be honored to fight in Rio.

"I'm not saying a yes or a no," Pacquiao said. "I'm not closing the door. I have to think about it and I'm still thinking about it. It's good to let professionals in the Olympics."

Pacquiao said he had been "personally invited" to Rio by Wu Ching-kuo, president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) - the governing body for amateur boxing.

Proposed changes to AIBA statutes, set to be put to a vote at a special congress at the end of May, could leave Olympic eligibility in the hands of national boxing federations.

Pacquiao, who is preparing for what is being billed as his farewell fight against Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas on April 9, is planning to transition into Philippines politics when he hangs up his gloves.

However, the prospect of becoming his nation's first Olympic gold medalist is likely to be a powerful lure for the 37-year-old.

The Philippines has won a total of nine bronze and silver medals at the Olympics since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam - five of them in boxing.

Roach said on Wednesday he has discussed the prospect of fighting in Rio with Pacquiao. The veteran trainer said he has even offered to work for free.

"If they let him in the Olympics I told him I'd train him," Roach said. "He said 'You know there's no pay for that right?' I said, 'No problem!'

"If Manny wants to go to the Olympics and get his country a gold medal, I'd be behind that.

"Pro athletes compete in other sports at the Olympics, so why not boxing? I don't agree with it, but that's the way life is."

Roach dismissed concerns that allowing pros to fight against untested amateurs could be risky.

"What's dangerous about it? A three-round fight or a 12-round fight? It's still boxing. People talk about the difference between pros and amateurs, but good pros come from the amateurs," Roach said.

However, Roach's view was not shared by Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum, who branded the AIBA's proposals as "insane".

"I think the idea of professional boxers in the Olympics the way it's been proposed is insane," said Arum, founder and CEO of Top Rank Boxing.

"You can't have top professional fighters competing in the Olympics against raw amateurs. To mix them up is wrong.

"People say 'Well in other sports we allow professionals to compete in the Olympics.' But boxing is not other sports. It's a hurt sport. It's dangerous.

"To put an unheralded kid from Nigeria in the ring with a Manny Pacquiao? You should be sentenced to jail for doing something like that."

(China Daily 04/01/2016 page23)