http://www.mmamania.com/2010/5/20/1480633/gsp-set-to-train-with-freddie-roach UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre broke the news that he will be spending some quality time with world renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach in the very near future. "Rush" told Jim Rome on his nationally syndicated radio show that he will be flying to California today to begin training at Roach's Wildcard Gym in Hollywood. Roach, best known for his training of seven-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, is coming off his supervision of yet another masterpiece less than a week ago on May 15. He was in the corner of trainee Amir Khan as he made his stateside debut at Madison Square Garden in New York. "King Khan" recorded an 11th round TKO victory to retain his WBA world light welterweight title after a dominant performance over challenger Paulie Malignaggi. This will certainly not be the first time Roach has helped MMA fighters fine tune their "sweet science" repertoir. Anderson Silva, Andrei Arlovski, Gegard Mousasi, and Dan Hardy have all trained under his watchful eye in the past. It will be interesting to see if the extra standup training pays tangible dividends for GSP in the future, who has been criticized recently by fans and pundits for not being able to finish fights. Click here to listen to a snippet of GSP's interview with Rome in which he addresses his "conservative" fighting style. (Props: Jim Rome's Twitter Page) GSP is scheduled to defend his title in a rematch against Josh Koscheck at a date and time to be named later.
Thats awesome, as if GSPs skills weren't freakish it were. You can't help but wonder if roach is over his head here.
Glad to hear it. I'm not too happy with his stand up. Sometimes I think it's sloppy. I think Freddie can work on keeping him in position and throwing punches better.
if he gains confidence in his stand up, it increases the chances of his glass chin being shattered again
This will not be beneficial to GSP, his stand-up is dominant in the sport right now. And it is because of his unorthodox strikes, made possible by his foot speed and range. It's his ability to leap in and out with his strikes that makes him so dangerous, learning more boxing in my opinion will have to make him change his entire stand-up strategy. Right now he is successful throwing 1 or 2 strikes at a time and leaving, Roach will have him wait in the pocket to long. He ISN'T gonna become Manny Pacman overnight, he should just be himself.
Yeah, some interesting observations. I have also seen how unusual GSP is and how devastating he can be when he leaps in with his strikes and then is magically out of range for effective counter shots. But, Roach may just improve GSP's jab, make it a power jab like Wlad has and Holmes had. With a jab like that GSP could back his man up and never be in a position to be K'oed by the likes of a Matt Serra. You're right though, if Roach encourages GSP to stay in the pocket he will become more susceptible to knockdowns.
GSP has very underrated stand up. He is just hesitant to use it since his KO loss to Serra. I wonder how Roach will coach someone like GSP who has a karate base.
