While it’s true that Manny Pacquiao was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in the sixth round last December in Las Vegas,  Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach believes that a fight between Pacquiao and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. remains a hot ticket if they both get past their next fights.

Mayweather will take on Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Sept. 14 in a junior middleweight title fight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on Showtime pay-per-view). Pacquiao will square off with former lightweight champion Brandon Rios on Nov. 23 in Macao, China (on HBO pay-per-view).

“Yeah, I think the world is still very interested in that fight,” Roach, who trains Pacquiao, said Thursday at his Wild Card gym in Hollywood. “We don’t hear as much about it as we once did, but the thing is it’s still the biggest fight in the world, I think. Mayweather’s got like four fights left after this on his contract (with Showtime). He doesn’t have four opponents without putting Manny Pacquiao in there as one of them. I think he’ll have to fight him sometime within the next year.”

Roach suggested anything less than a sterling performance against Rios could hurt the chances of that fight finally being made.

“The thing is,” Roach said, “we need to look good in this fight.”