Errol Spence Jr. dominating Danny Garcia in December 2020 was enough proof for most fans that he had recovered from the single-car crash he suffered nearly 14 months prior.
However, Freddie Roach isn't fully convinced of that just yet. While training Pacquiao for his Aug. 21 mega fight against the unified WBC/IBF welterweight world champion Spence, Roach questioned if "The Truth" has fully bounced back from the horrific October 2019 accident, in which he was ejected from his Ferrari, miraculously surviving without suffering a single broken bone.
"Errol Spence is a very good fighter, good boxer, but I'm very leery about that car accident," Roach recently told FightHype.com. "He's lucky to be alive. I'm happy that he's alive, but it was a real bad car accident and I still don't think it's over."
When asked if Roach still has questions regarding whether Spence, 31, is 100 percent, the revered trainer offered: "Yes, of course I do. Mentally how could you be?"
And Spence's unanimous decision over Garcia left some lingering questions about the unified champ on the table for Roach.
"He (was) fighting Danny Garcia ... that's a big jump from Manny Pacquiao. Believe me," Roach continued. "He looked OK in that fight, but it wasn't great. It was OK. I'm happy he's alive and so forth and happy that he made it through that accident, but again, I don't feel like that accident (and the effects from it) are over and Manny Pacquiao's speed, usually what it does is it overwhelms a lot of people. The foot speed, the hand speed, the power ..."
Knowing that Pacquiao will be giving up 3 1/2 inches in height and five inches of reach to the bigger Spence, Roach added that he was "very happy" that "Pac Man" registered two knockdowns while sparring recently.
The 42-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) may need to exhibit his best performance yet to topple the undefeated Spence (27-0, 21 KOs).
As of Thursday (Aug. 5), BetMGM has Spence as the -200 favorite to defend his titles against Pacquiao (+165) on Aug. 21 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.