It was March 14, 2011. The first day of Manny Pacquiao?s training in preparation for his fight against Shane Mosley. Freddie Roach arrived at 12 noon for a training session that was supposed to start at 2 pm.
?I got bored at the hotel so I went here early,? he told me. I asked him where he was staying. He nonchalantly said ?Manor.?
A stay at The Manor is a dream for most regular people. Not Freddie. He preferred to spend his time in the Shape-Up Boxing Gym at the Cooyeesan Hotel. He willingly traded crisp linen covers, top-class hotel service, and his privacy to be in a boxing gym.
Freddie came into the gym without a bodyguard; just a driver who got lost because it was his first time to drive in Baguio. He doesn?t have a grand entourage and he doesn?t care one bit. To Freddie, boxing isn?t just a passing thing. Boxing is a way of living. There have been boxing personalities that have tried to use their success in boxing to catapult them into crossing over and being mainstream stars. Oscar de la Hoya launched a solo album. Floyd Mayweather joined Dancing with the Stars then launched his production company with rapper 50 Cent. Manny Pacquiao went into singing, acting, and is now a politician. Freddie isn?t interested with such glitz and glamor. For him, boxing is the center-stage. You don?t go into boxing as a stepping stone for other things. Boxing is nirvana, his end-goal.
As Freddie settled in one of the corners of the gym, Marvin Somodio, one of the local trainers, handed him a cup of coffee. ?This is the best coffee you?ve ever made, Marvin,? Freddie said. There?s a reason why he tries to flatter Marvin. Freddie wants him to leave the Philippines and head on to Los Angeles to be his assistant trainer. ?I?ll pay you five dollars an hour,? Freddie joked. Marvin didn?t get what the joke was. He began nodding his head as he computed how much he?d be making in a day if he worked eight hours.
?I have assistant trainers in my gym but I don?t trust any of them like I trust Marvin,? Freddie said, ?but he wouldn?t leave the Philippines because of his girl.?
Marvin just had his first professional boxing match recently at the age of 27. ?I retired when I was 27. Marvin?s just starting his pro career,? Freddie shared while letting out a quick smile.
?I quit boxing because I wasn?t getting any better. My goal was to win a world title and I felt that I could not achieve that anymore so I walked away,? he shared, ?but I?ll let Marvin finish his pro career before I take him to LA.? Freddie knew that taking him to LA is the best thing for Marvin but he doesn?t push him to do it. Freddie wants Marvin to be at peace with his pro boxing career before moving into full-time training. He doesn?t want Marvin to wonder what it would have been like if he pursued his pro career. He wants Marvin to experience it firsthand.
To pass time, Freddie rocked the aluminum chair he was sitting on, sometimes he tilted so far back that the back of the chair rested on the wall behind it. ?If I fall from this chair again, I?ll probably die,? he said. Marvin told me that he fell from the same chair while doing the same thing last year. But you can?t expect Freddie to stop just because it bit him in the ass once. He?s a resilient, almost stubborn, kind of guy. He does not quit easily.
This is an attribute that Freddie has had for a long time. Freddie was like this way back when he was still a fighter. A hard-nosed boxer who fought with his heart on his sleeve, Freddie Roach AKA La Cucaracha (because it means cockroach in Spanish) AKA The Choir Boy (because he seriously looked like a choir boy and not a fighter) totaled 53 fights, winning 40 and losing 13.
If you googled ?too tough for his own good? Freddie Roach?s mug would end up being there somewhere. This toughness, some claim, is the main reason behind Freddie?s illness. Like the great Muhammad Ali, Freddie also has Parkinson?s disease.
His hands twitch uncontrollably, his head shakes a little, and his speech is also slurred. If a person who knows nothing about boxing sees Freddie walk down the street, chances are that the person will dismiss Freddie as someone whose best days are behind him.
Freddie battles his disease daily but he never lets it get the better of him. The only time his hands stop twitching is when he holds the mitts to train fighters. No wonder he happily ditched the swanky hotel he was staying at to be in the gym. This was his happy place.
Freddie was happy to be at the SUB Gym in Baguio but there was one place where he?d rather be. ?I miss being in my gym,? he shared, ?but Manny wants to train here so I have to be here.? Freddie wants to spend as much time in his gym as possible. He hates everything that prevents him from doing that. Freddie particularly loathes missing gym time because he has to battle lawsuits. ?One writer is suing me for 27,000 dollars because I kicked him out of my gym once, I mean where the fuck did he get 27,000 dollars?? Freddie complained, ?now Justin Fortune is suing me for saying that I saw him take steroids. I said that three years ago and he?s suing me now??
I asked him about the person who sued him for physical injuries. Freddie?s face lit up like a father telling a story of how his son took his first steps. ?I killed those guys in court,? Freddie said, ?the guy sued me because I put my hands over his shoulders and kicked him out of my gym then his wife sued me for emotional stress because his husband can?t get it up since that day.? Freddie won that lawsuit and is now seeking compensation from the couple for his attorney fees.
It?s easy to understand why Freddie hates being out of the gym. Being completely immersed in boxing heals him and sharing his vast knowledge of the sport to young fighters who want to make it big is his therapy. His illness is a by-product of boxing and the irony of it all is that the same sport that took away his health is the very same thing keeping him from succumbing further to the debilitating effects of Parkinson?s disease.
?I don?t know what I?ll do other than boxing. Listen, I?ll train fighters as long as I can. When I can?t hold the mitts anymore, that will be the only time when I?ll quit,? he told me.
He looked away and checked his Blackberry for messages. ?It?s my girlfriend,? he tells me as he scans through his phone. ?Let me tell you something, everyone who has ever been married made a mistake. They?ll end up getting divorced so don?t ever get married,? he said.
But Freddie got it wrong. He is married.
There was no formal ceremony and no documents to prove it but I know for a fact that Freddie Roach is married, not to a woman, but to the sport of boxing.
Freddie got one part right though, divorce is indeed inevitable in this marriage. There will come a time when he cannot be completely immersed in boxing anymore. There will come a time when he?ll be too weak to hold the mitts, too old to run his gym. But like a man trying to save a relationship with the only girl he has ever loved, he will hold on to boxing for as long as he can.
He looked at the clock which read 2:10 pm. Manny was supposed to be here at exactly 2 pm. ?Manny is an eight division world champion, it?s okay for him to be late sometimes,? Freddie said. Someone from the crowd asked if Freddie will wait for any other fighter like he would for Manny. ?No,? he said bluntly, ?if it was any other fighter, I?d be gone by now.?
All of a sudden, the Representative of the lone district of Sarangani walked in and just like that I and everybody else in the gym didn?t exist to Roach. His full attention was on his fighter.
He laced up his gear, put on his mitts, and joined his fighter in the ring for a workout. All the ill effects of his Parkinson?s disease evaporated. Freddie looked 20 years younger than his real age of 51.
After watching him train Pacquiao, I fully understood why he would choose the SUB Gym in Baguio over a nice hotel. I understood why he flew all the way from Los Angeles and willingly waited another couple of hours for his fighter. Freddie Roach found his fountain of youth. It?s at the top of the ring, standing toe-to-toe with the best fighter in the world.
Boxing is not just a sport for Freddie Roach. It is a way of life.
