freddy roach interview transcript

In this interview from last friday (19th) Roach talks about:

- Pac's chances against Oscar
- The advantage of having trained both fighters
- How Oscar will cope with Manny's speed
- Oscar making weight
- What its like to train Pacquiao
- Manny's confidence level
- Manny's weight for the fight
- What it was like training Toney, Tyson, Moorer, and other champs
- The difference between boxing today and when he was a pro
- Fighters not making weight
- How he got into training
- the JMM rematch and Pacquiao's future oppotunities

Freddy, so many financial reasons to fight Oscar that Pacquiao basically had to take it. Do you think that PAcquiao can win this fight?

Yes Pacquiao can definately win the fight. Again, I would never take a fight that my guy didn't have a chance of winning. Oscar is getting a little bit older, he's having trouble pulling the trigger, and you know he had some trouble with Stevie Forbes. Stevie Forbes is a blown up 130pounder also. People might say that about Pacquiao, but Pacquiao is the best pound for pound fighter in the world today. He has what it takes. How we're gonna win this fight is not with... you know, we're not gonna put alot of weight on and use our strength. Its speed how you win this fight. And with Pacquiao, I know that we have a great strategy, I know OScar's weaknesses, and we're gonna take advantage of them.

Because you've worked with both Oscar and Manny, how much is that an advantage for you and Pacquiao.

Huge. Its a big advantage. I know Oscar pretty well. Even though i only worked with him for eight weeks, I learned alot about Oscar. I know what he's capable of and what his faults are. We're gonna really take advantage of that. I've got three guys lined up, really good guys, guys like Oscar, good left hands, good left hooks and tall. We're gonna win this fight, believe me.

Hey Freddy its really Oscar's size vs Manny's speed, what do you expect De La Hoya to do to negate Pacquiao's speed.

That's the problems he has. He's not gonna be able to deal with the speed, I feel. You know people, like when I fought Hector Camacho, I thought I could deal with the speed and I got fast sparring partners and so forth but you really don't really realise how fast a guy is until you get in there. Manny is one of those guys. He's alot faster than people think and he hits really hard. He has good pop. You know, he's not gonna be a great puncher at 147, I mean Oscar's a bigger guy of course, but the thing is he will be effective and we will break this guy down.

With Oscar being the bigger guy there's a stipulation of a 3 million dollar fine for every pound he's over the 147 lb weight limit. Do you think it'll be a problem for Oscar to make weight for this fight?

I definately thinks its gonna be a problem for OScar. And believe me, there's millions of dollars at stake, every pound he's over there's millions of dollars at stake. But you know what, if he doesn't make weight, there's no fight, because I gotta protect my fighter. So the thing is, I'll make this statement right now, if he's one pound over, and one pound is 3 million dollars extra for us, the money doesn't count, I'm here to win this fight. He must make weight. He signed a contract for 147 he better make the win.

You sound pretty adament about that Freddy.

I am, I'm very adament. His last fight was a contract at 150. He came in at 151, he couldn't even make 150. They gave him the pound. I'm not gonna give him anything because again, I gotta protect my fighter, and every ounce that he has to lose is gonna be an advantage to us.

Freddy tell us what its like to work with Manny

Great. He's a machine. I mean this kid works so hard. I really have to slow him down. He's one of those guys, his work ethic is unbelievable. Every day he comes through the wild card doors, once he gets in the gym, everything stops, all the fans go away, and he just focuses on what he needs to do. He's really a great student.

Freddy when this fight was made, the feeling we had was that Freddy Roach must have seen something pretty important to take a guy who had just moved up to lightweight for the first time, and move all the way up to 147, to fight a legend like OScar de la Hoya. You seem pretty confident.

I'm very confident. Manny's very confident. I like that. People say we're cocky, thats okay but the thing is, again, i know Oscar's strengths and I know his weaknesses, I know what to take advantage of and I know Pacquiao's stengths also. I've been with PAcquiao for 7 years now, and i know what he's capable of. You know, I'm not saying this is gonna be an easy fight, I'd be fooling myself, its gonna be a really really tough fight I know. But the thing is Pacquiao can pull this one off and we're gonna work really hard for it. We're in training camp really early for this fight. Once the press tour is done the gym is closing down, I'm closing the doors and I'm just gonna concentrate on the Pacquiao fight. We're gonna be well prepared for this fight.

Freddy because you feel speed will be the key to victory, what do you think will be the ideal weight for Manny to come in at?

Well, he's just gonna come in naturally at weigh-in. So we talked about that yesterday. Weigh in time he's gonna be about 44, natural weight, and by fight time he'll be 47. Again, thats the heavyest I want him. He weighed at 46 and a half going into the Diaz fight and its the perfect weight for him. Oscar, I know Oscar pretty well, if he weighs 47 he normally gains about 10 pounds, he'll be about 10 pounds heavier than us. But, its not gonna help him.




Freddy, you've had alot of great fighters over the years. Who's the best fighter you've ever worked with?

That's really hard to say, who the best fighter is, I mean world champions are all a little bit special. You know James Toney was a very talented guy, probably the most natural fighter I've ever trained. Tyson was a good puncher, of course, but when I worked with Tyson it was a little bit late in his carreer and he just didn't have the discipline or the work ethic that he had when he was younger. Michael Moorer is a great student of the game. I've just had very great opportunities to work with great fighters. The thing is, I think they... you know... I didn't make them, they made me. Cause when the bell rings I sit down and they fight, so...

Freddy what the biggest difference that you see between the trainers of today, and the trainers back when you were a professional fighter. Is there any difference?

Well I had a great trainer in Eddie Futch. Eddie taught me alot and I think alot of my success has to do with Eddie of course. I'm very much like Eddie, an old school guy, I believe in hard work, I believe in discipline. The thing is I don't think alot has changed, at least for me. The thing is with technology, and improvement on diet, and improvement on strength training and so forth, I think boxing is a little bit different now, its a little bit different game. I'm old school but I'm willing to try things if they make sense to me.

With the diet and technology that you're talking about available to fighters, why is it that we're seeing so many guys come over the weight? Even when they're weighing in the day before the fight.

Its crazy. Its embarassing actually. If I came in over the weight it was just like.... it would never happen. I would never embarass my trainer like that. My guys are pretty solid guys. But I have Dean Byrne, one of my Irish boys fighting tonight, the other guy came in 8 pounds overweight yesterday. I got my guy ready for a fight. What are you gonna do cancel the fight? The guy is 8 pounds heavy, they fine him a little bit. But you know, we're gonna take the fight cause my guy came ready and ready to go of course. Its something you have to deal with at this point. But in the big fights, especially the big TV fights, where these guys come in overweight and blow away the whole show, they should never be allowed to fight... they should be fined and suspended for long periods of time. Thats why I'm making a statement about Oscar making weight. Because the thing is he might wanna just say "I'll come in overweight and just pay the money" He's getting alot of money, he can pay the money, but the thing is if he doesn't make weight, there's gonna be no fight!

You mentioned that when you were a fighter Eddie Futch was your trainer, he also had Virgil Hill and a whole host of boxers at that time. Isn't that how you got into training?

Yea, Virgil was my first fighter. Eddie was really busy with Larry Holmes and Michael Spinks. Virgil asked Eddie if I could be his assistant and help him out, cause me and Virgil trained together. My last year pro was his first year pro, so it worked out well. I was in charge of Virgil from the get go. Eddie would come in and work the corner with me, and thats kind of how Eddie molded me into a trainer and taught me a different side of boxing.

Freddy I'd hate to end this interview without asking you about a fight that we all wanna see happen, and thats a third fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

I believe the Marquez rematch will happen. It'll have to happen at 140 pounds though. Cause Manny told me after the Diaz fight that he wants to move up to 140. And then when the Oscar fight came we skipped a division of course. You know after we beat Oscar, I think the big fights out there are Ricky Hatton, maybe Floyd Jr if he makes his comeback. But Marquez wants a rematch and I feel he deserves one, I think the people wanna see that fight one more time.

 

anyone know the list of world class fighters Roach has trained at one point or another?

Pacquiao
Hopkins
Toney
Hill
Tyson
Vasquez
Moorer
De La Hoya
...

 

you're welcome. actually took me a while to write all that up

 

I'm a Toney fan, but most natural fighter does not = best fighter.