Given his prominence on the world stage as an elite trainer, it’s easy to forget that Massachusett’s native Freddie Roach, cornerman to Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan among others, was first a fighter.
With a 53 fight career that spanned 1978 – 1986, Roach earned himself a record of 39-13, with 15 wins coming by way of KO.
He was a staple of early ESPN boxing broadcasts. He fought titleholders like Greg Haugen and Hector Camacho. He also won the New England featherweight championship on the undercard of a Marvin Hagler middleweight title defense in 1981. The Promoter? Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. – the organization so closely tied to Roach now due to their affiliations with pound for pound superstar Manny Pacquiao.
Roach may spend most of his time nowadays training world champions in Hollywood. However, he’s originally from Dedham, Massachusetts. Expect more New England memories from master Roach to appear on this examiner page in the near future.
