Four-time Trainer Of The Year, Freddie Roach, turned 50 on Friday, and celebrated his birthday, in part, as a guest at The Santa Anita Race Track on Sunday.
There, Roach took part in the Winner's Circle ceremony of The Joe Hernandez Stakes, presenting the trophy for the afternoon's featured race.
On Friday, even on his birthday, Roach was spending his milestone day doing what he loves best -- training, three-time Fighter Of The Year, and, one-time Fighter Of The Decade, Manny Pacquiao, and others, at his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif.
A seven-division champion, the 31-year-old Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 knockouts) is preparing for his March 13, WBO welterweight (147 pounds) title defense against Ghanian-born Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs) of The Bronx, in New York, to be held at The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
But on Friday, FanHouse caught up with Roach, who reflected on his life as a trainer, and his influences, such as his late mentor, Eddie Futch. Roach touched on what his life is like enduring Parkinson's Desease, and many other things. Roach and Pacquiao will break camp on Monday to leave for Texas.
FanHouse: Hello, Freddie, happy birthday, and thanks for spending time with us on such a busy day. Remember, you wanted to first begin by thanking and recognizing people you wanted to mention in your life for helping you to become who you are today?
Freddie Roach: Well, there's my mom, Barbara, and, my dad, Paul Roach, of course. All of my brothers and sisters, Allen, Julie, Cindy, Pepper, Joey, Paul, and of course Eddie Futch, my trainer and mentor.
My family supports me, tremendously. Eddie Futch taught me the game of boxing, the finer arts of how to be a trainer and a fighter. My dad for teaching me how to be a fighter. Frank Pusateri, a fighter out of Boston, he coached me when I was six years old when my dad was working a couple of jobs.
Manny Pacquiao for making me famous. James Toney for trusting me to be his coach. We won the light heavyweight title with James. Michael Moorer for trying so hard in the Evander Holyfield fight. He showed a lot of guts in that fight that we lost.
Mike Tyson is one of my favorite people in the world, and it was just a great relationship, talking about the history of boxing together. Johnny Tapia for being so crazy in a great way, just high-intensity and just working hard all of the time. We won the bantamweight (118 pounds) and super bantamweight (122 pounds) championship.
There's Virgil Hill, who was my first champion. We won the WBA light heavyweight (175 pounds) championship when I was 27 years old. I thank Virgil for asking me to help Eddie, because Eddie was too busy and had Michael Spinks and Larry Holmes and was too busy, so Virgil asked me if I could help Mr. Futch, and that's why I got into training in boxing.
I want to thank Steve Collins for coming over with us. He won the title at super middleweight (168 pounds), and he beat Chris Eubank, twice, and he beat Nigel Benn, twice. And I was in his corner every time. Just all the champions that I've had are special people. I know that there's 26, or, 27 of them.
Amir Khan is my up and coming star, and he can do me a big favor and shut Paulie Malignaggi up for good. And I can't wait. David Haye, who called me last week and ask me if I could get up and get him ready for a fight, but I had to turn him down because I can't go to England, I just don't have any time.
I'd just like to thank all of my fighters for making me look good. When I sit down with them, we have a good rapport with each other. They're great fighters and I love every single one of them.
FH: What about your doctors, with helping with Parkinsons?
Roach: There's Dr. Joseph Chung. I go to him every three months. He monitors me and make's sure everything is intact and that my medications are all in order. He's pretty lenient because the medications are sometimes hard to take, and I tell him I'm going to cut down with this one or that one.
But I tell him when I'm going to do it and he gives me the okay if it is okay. Sometimes, he makes me stay on some medications. But the thing is, sometimes, the medications are worse than the symptoms of course. That's a part of my life.
I see the best doctors in the world, from the Mayo Clinic to the Cleveland Clinic, to the University of British Columbia where I was diagnosed. There are people all over the world trying to help me. Everyone has their cure, and I've tried them all, and they haven't worked yet.
But there are people looking out for my best interest, and that's people everywhere that I go. So I thank them all for trying to help me.
Things Freddie Roach Likes About Boxing:
1) The fighters
2) A good fight
3) Training Fighters
4) Boxing writers. They're great. Without them telling our stories, we wouldn't be here. I get along with all of them, and I'm a very honest and open person and don't lie. Of course, they've voted me Trainer Of The Year four times now, and love that award because it's my favorite award because it's named after my trainer, Eddie Futch.
5) The travel. I love it. I've been to 26 countries in my life, now. Without boxing, I'd probably still be Las Vegas. But I've been almost everywherre.
6) Wild Card Boxing Club. This is my home. I have a house, but I don't live there, I live here. I just sleep at my house. The thing is, I'm here 12 hours a day, and I love every minute of it. Boxing gyms have the biggest characters in any town, I love those characters. The ex-fighters. They're great.
7) My favorite boxing glove is Reyes. Real fighters where Reyes. Real punchers wear Reyes. Guys that go in there with bad intentions.
8) My favorite boxing commission is Nevada's. They're well-run. Best in the world. Very respectful. They're on top of their game. They let you work with your fighters, wrapping hands and so forth. They let you protect the fighter. Very fair. Sometimes, I wonder what the judges are watching. But that's a part of boxing.
Things Freddie Roach Dislikes About Boxing:
1) The politics of rating fighters. People getting ratings that don't deserve it. People being overlooked and ducked and things of that nature.
2) I don't like religion in boxing. I think they should keep that for the church, or wherever it may be. I mean, Amir Khan fights Dimitriy Salita, and they tried to make it a Jewish-Muslim thing. That's all bull****. It's a sport. It has nothing to do with religion. Keep religion where it belongs, keep politics where it belongs, let the sport be a sport.
Just because you pray more than me doesn't mean you're going to win the fight. That doesn't win fights. I mean, God has a lot more better things to do than worry about a boxing match.
3) Fighters staying around too long. They need to retire sooner. That's a very difficult thing to do, and I know it, because I stayed around too long.
4) I don't like corner men who don't watch out for their fighters. A lot of guys throw a towel over their shoulders, and all of a sudden, they're a trainer. They need to protect their fighters, and they don't have the knowledge to protect their fighters.
It's a hard decision to make of course, but you have to protect their fighters. I wish that there were a lot more people who would do that. We'd have a lot less injuries in boxing if we had more qualified trainers.
Word Association:
FH: I will mention a subject or word, and you respond with the first thing that comes to mind.
Roach: Okay.
Paulie Malignaggi: Girl
Parkinson's Disease: Sucks
The Mayweathers: Scared
Winning: Everything
Golden Boy: Future
Losing: Sucks
Alex Ariza: Good guy
Steroids: Not necessary
Joe Santiago: Young, getting better
Mike Tyson: Great
Typhoon: Sucks
Michael Koncz: A**hole
Nat's Thai Food: Good
Bob Arum: Okay
Catch weight: Sucks
Ricky Hatton: Good guy, funny
Olympic-style drug testing: Not relevant
Eddie Futch: The best
Retirement: Hard to do
Mom: No. 1
Dad: I miss him
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
***
No comments:
Post a Comment