This afternoon on an international conference call Oscar De La Hoya announced that Freddie Roach would replace Floyd Mayweather Sr. as his trainer for the May 5 clash between the Golden Boy and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
“I want to thank Oscar for the confidence,” said Roach, “This is a must win situation, winning is what counts.”
This writer openly wonders if entire drama surrounding Mayweather Sr.’s dismissal and prolonged announcement of Roach as the new trainer was little more than a publicity move to draw even more attention to the mega-event fight fans are looking forward to on May 5. The fight is more than three months away and the public dialog surrounding De La Hoya’s training situation has kept boxing media outlets locked in on the event.
Interestingly enough, Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy, stated during the conference that the decision to drop Floyd was partly based on the desire to NOT make the build up for this mega-event negative or a media circus.
“We do not want a circus atmosphere,” said Schaefer, “May 5 is a calling card for the sport.”
One has to wonder if Oscar avoided one circus and created another. The legal battles over Manny Pacquiao have been covered at length over the last few months and Roach, along with De La Hoya have been central figures.
If things go as planned, Pacquiao, also trained by Roach, will have a fight April 28, a week prior than the De La Hoya v. Mayweather showdown.
I can see the frenzied Filipino media arguing that the Golden Boy stole Pacquiao’s trainer with a tough opponent in In Jin Chi looming in the horizon.
“I talked to Pacquiao, he congratulated me,” said Freddie, “If he fights, Justin Fortune will take over the duties and Manny is very comfortable with Justin.”
Fortune also works out of the Roach’s Wild Card Gym and has worked with Pacquiao on several occasions.
Smart move Golden Boy, way to keep the attention on De La Hoya v. Mayweather, you just might build this into the biggest boxing event of all-time.
