Roach: Politics Beckons If Pacquiao Underperforms Against Rios

Freddie Roach believes that Manny Pacquiao will retire from boxing if he fails to perform to his usual high level against Brandon Rios on 24 November in Macau, China.

The American has worked with Pacquiao for several years and has overseen plenty of success as the Filipino worked his way through the weight classes and consistently won world titles.

However, the 34-year-old has lost his last two bouts to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, causing some to question whether the time was right for him to walk away from the sport.

Pacquiao was knocked out in brutal fashion by Marquez in December 2012 and Roach believes that he may deicde to focus on his burgeoning political career if he fails to impress against Rios.

"If it does not go well, we will seriously talk about his retirement and possibly going to politics full time," Roach told Sky Sports.

"It's really hard to say until we see the fight, but I will be the first one to tell him to retire, and we have an agreement that as soon as I tell him that, he will retire."

Despite suggesting this could be Pacquiao's last fight, Roach has made it clear that he has seen few indications that his fighters' skills are dwindling, adding "I don't see him slipping in the ring at all."

Rios presents a dangerous test for Pacquiao having only lost once in 33 fights. That defeat came in his last contest against Mike Alvarado and he will be desperate to make a point against one of the biggest names in the sport.

It has also not been the best preparation for Pacquiao, who is a congressman in the Philippines and a true national hero, and had hoped to take time out of training to visit people affected by the tragic events caused by Typhoon Haiyan.

Pacquiao has been training in the southern Philippines, which has escaped the worst of the typhoon, and Roach admitted that his fighter has been affected by the events.

"We have had a lot of calls about the tragedy of course," explained Roach. "He told me he wanted to go down on Sunday but it's too close to the fight for him to take any time off and we talked about that. He is focused on the fight still but obviously it is a big distraction because it killed all of those people."