Audio: Roach opens up on Pacquiao, Mayweather
It's not Freddie Roach Week at the Toronto Star, but if sure feels like it.
That's natural.
The proposed showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather for boxing's pound-for-pound crown has drawn exponentially more interest than any other topic on this blog, so when one of the men directly connected to the (still only proposed) event shows up in Toronto, you take advantage.
Roach, of course, is in Southern Ontario because he's one of the hardest working people in the business. Last Saturday he cornered Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as the son of the Mexican legend pounded out the biggest win of his career, a dominant 12-round decision over Irish John Duddy.
That all happened in San Antonio, Texas, where Roach caught three hours of post-fight sleep before departing for Toronto to join another protege, Ana "Hurricane" Julaton. She and Roach reunited after Julation's loss in March to Lisa "Bad News" Brown at Casino Rama, and Wednesday night Julaton returns to Rama to face Mexico's Maria Elena Villalobos for the vacant WBO 122-pound title (TSN, 10 p.m.).
But as busy as he is, and as big of a name as he has become since Pacquiao's popularity exploded, Roach still makes plenty of time for sports scribes. He knows a good quote when he utters one, and is just as easy and honest and plain-spoken in interviews as he is in conversation.
That's rare.
And this week he turned some of that honest talk to the (potential) Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight -- assessing both fighters' strengths, both men's weaknesses (yes, Pacquaio fans, Manny has some too...even Roach says so), and how this fight might play out -- if and when it happens.
Either way, it was enjoyable conversation with one of the biggest names in boxing, and something worth sharing here:
And here:
Comments