Outspoken Hall of Fame-bound boxing trainer Freddie Roach recently talked to Leave It In The Ring Radio about Joshua Clottey and his favorite pupil’s preparation for “The Event”. He also didn't hold back his thoughts on Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Paulie Malignaggi.
Here are some highlights:
On Pacquiao’s condition:
"He’s on fire right now and ready to go."
On why Clottey was chosen as Manny’s opponent:
“Since the Mayweather fight didn’t happen, there was really nowhere else for us to go. We had to pick the best guy available and Clottey is that guy.”
On Clottey:
"The thing is… I have a lot of confidence in my fighter of course, but I know he is a very difficult guy. I respect him as a fighter. I respect him as a human being. He’s a gentleman. He knows how to fight, but I just have a lot of confidence in Manny. We have a really really good game plan for Clottey. The thing is we just have to pull the game plan off. And I think we can make it look a lot easier than it is. Of course he is a tough guy and we do have to respect his power and size."
On Manny’s possible retirement after Clottey fight if Pacquio vs Mayweather-Mosley winner can not be made:
"We have talked about that because I don’t want Manny to stay in the game too long. I don’t want him to be one of those guys who was fighting beyond their best years…. This could be our last fight."
On Floyd Mayweather Jr:
"He (Manny) wants Mayweather next so badly. The thing is (they) both need to win their fights of course. We’re not going to give Mayweather any edge at all though. He wants this Olympic style drug testing, all these (rubbish). We’re not going to give him nothing because if you give him something, he becomes bigger than the commission, bigger than the sport. It’s like giving the first two rounds away, giving him confidence, and so forth. We’ll go by the Nevada commission rules, by the sanctioning body rules…If he doesn’t want to fight us at those rules, then he can go fight some girl."
On Amir Khan’s next opponent:
"The thing about (Marcos) Maidana is nobody knows him yet. He's starting to get a little recognition because of Ortiz of course, but the thing is he's a really, really tough fight. So I don't want to fight that guy for nothing, for free…I wanted (Juan Manuel) Marquez so badly for his next fight for his American debut, because matchmaking is timing and I think it's the right time. I know it's not an easy fight, but I think it's one we can win. Nacho (Beristain) decided not to fight us, so Paulie Malignaggi was the next guy out there. I don't think we really want to fight Paulie though because he's such an (butthole). I used to respect this guy and like him, but he opens his mouth and says Amir is on steroids now because he trains with Freddie Roach. I might smack him when I see him… I'm pissed off about that with him. I feel like pulling Amir out of the fight and telling him go get a payday somewhere else because there's no payday here. You've knocked out five guys in your career; (they) must've been five girls. If Amir doesn't knock him out, I'll be very disappointed."
To hear the interview in its entirety, visit leave-it-in-the-ring.com.
- Marshall N. B., marx7204@lycos.com
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