KO to firm up Pacquiao claim to No. 1

LOS ANGELES – Freddie Roach will be disappointed if Manny Pacquiao fails to knock David Diaz out this coming Saturday at Mandalay Bay.

“I really want a knockout in this fight,” said Roach Saturday at the Wild Card Gym when asked if he ever sees the fight lasting the whole 12 rounds.

Roach wants to see Pacquiao in his most devastating form, the way he was in knocking out 11 of 16 foes since they hooked up in 2001.

“We haven’t had a knockout in two fights,” said Roach of Pacquiao’s last two victories over Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez.

While Pacquiao dominated Barrera in October last year, he needed a close, controversial decision to beat Marquez in their rematch last March.

Pacquiao, according to Roach, needs a knockout, and nothing less than that, to affirm his status as the world’s No. 1 fighter, pound for pound, today.

“Manny needs to be impressive in this fight because he’s the number one fighter in the world today pound for pound,” he said.

“I really feel we need a knockout against David Diaz in this fight and I feel we’ll knock him out,” added America’s two-time Trainer of the Year.

Pacquiao hooked up with Roach in 2001, and their partnership, probably one of the strongest in the business today, yielded positive results.

A late substitute, Pacquiao’s US debut yielded a stunning, sensational sixth-round knockout of Lehlo Ledwaba in July of 2001.

Then came KO wins over Jorge Julio, Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym, Serikzhan Yeshmagambetov, Emmanuel Lucero, Barrera, Fashan Battery, Hector Velasquez, Erik Morales twice and Jorge Solis in March last year.

“I really want a knockout in this fight,” said Roach.