My convo with Freddie Roach

Was thinking about the guy's condition and how life sometimes hands us lemons. He's someone who's definitely in the lemonade making business, so to speak.
A few buddies of mine and I went to Wild Card a few years back (the day of the Ortiz-Lopez fight). Walked in and Freddie was at the counter. Dude treated us like he knew us his whole life. So hospitable. It was a Saturday morning, so not many people were in the gym and we chopped it up for over an hour. Talked about a wide range of subjects. This was right after Chavez Jr dismantled Andy Lee - looked good in doing so. I asked him about boxing changing the rules from 15 rounds to 12 and if it was because of the Mancini-Duk Koo Kim fight/tragedy and other deaths in the ring. He said nah...it was all based around television and the money. Not hard to believe, actually, even though I thought I'd get a different answer. He spoke on the talent of Jorge Linares and how he'd never seen someone with so much natural talent. I swear, when he was talking boxing his eyes lit up. Needless to say, it was a great time. All of us boxed at one time or another (one professionally at the time, one on the All-Marine team, the other guy and myself training and sparring regularly) so it was a treat to meet the guy and converse.
Said all that to say that sometimes people get a bad rap. Freddie included. I wasn't fond at all of his comments captured on video (you know the ones) but we've all done or said sh*t that we regret. You and me included. Not an excuse, just a fact. I personally gained a lot of respect for him that Saturday morning. Here's to hoping his condition gets better and he continues producing champions. Not Pac but other ones. Jk...