For Freddie Roach, 2012 was rather disastrous for his training career. His good friend and star pupil Manny Pacquiao was controversially upset by Timothy Bradley in a lackluster performance, and then was later frighteningly put to sleep by Juan Manuel Marquez. Also in 2012, Roach was unable to motivate the talented young diva, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., to train properly for the biggest challenge of his career versus Sergio Martinez. There were also whispers from some in the boxing media that his deliberating physical condition was worsening, and perhaps hindering his effectiveness as a trainer. Professionally, 2012 was a mess of a lost year for Freddie Roach.
Turn the calendar to 2013, and things drastically improved. Due to his success in reinvigorating the careers of Ruslan Provodnikov, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao, Freddie Roach is the 3morerounds 2013 Trainer of the Year. The year was quite a surprising success.
When Provodnikov got the opportunity to challenge Timothy Bradley in March of last year, it first seemed like easy pickings for Bradley. The Siberian was an ?action fighter? and ESPN Friday Night Fights staple?mostly at junior welterweight I should add?but his seemingly limited skill-set made for an uninspiring choice of an opponent for Bradley?s welterweight belt. Little did we know how much effective work Roach was doing with Ruslan at the Wild Card gym. They worked on technique and brought out even more of the monster within the monster.
Ruslan Provodnikov gave Timothy Bradley a savage beating, and survived enough dangerous spots of his own that Roach considered stopping the fight on a couple different occasions. Most media outlets chose this as the fight of the year and round 12, when Ruslan went for broke and nearly knocked Bradley out, was the 3morerounds Round of the Year. Nobody expected this type of performance from Provodnikov and Roach deserves a lot of the credit for that. Similarly, though Pacquiao related commitments kept him away on fight night, Roach deserves credit for the work in the gym later in the fall that allowed Provodnikov to devilishly dine on heart and soul in beating what was left of Mike Alvarado and taking a share of the 140 pound title.
As we have written before in great detail, it was quite a surprise when Miguel Cotto fired Pedro Diaz and asked Freddie Roach to train him for the rest of his career. On October 5, 2012, in Orlando, Florida, we saw the fruits of their labor together against Delvin Rodriquez. As he predicted, Freddie Roach was able to bring back the latent aggression in Miguel Cotto, including a re-commitment to the body attack. The result was a devastating 3rd round TKO. It was an awesome performance.
Some media members have dismissed this performance as being either overblown or minimally significant. Let me remind some of these writers, including the great Nigel Collins, that Delvin Rodriguez was not some stiff. Though a bit of a fringe contender lacking in elite talent, Rodriquez?s heart and durability had never been questioned before the Cotto fight. He engaged in deranged warfare with Pawel Wolak in 2011. In June of 2012, Rodriguez went 12 rounds with Austin Trout, back when Austin Trout was regarded as one of the best 154 pound fighters in the world. Six months later, that same Austin Trout clearly and impressively beat Miguel Cotto in Madison Square Garden.
Basically, Delvin Rodriquez was just the type of solid fringe contender who had talent, would come to fight, and could allow us to see exactly what Cotto had left. Well, Cotto annihilated Rodriquez. Cotto looked as ferocious as he was in his prime, and set himself up to make history against Sergio Martinez in June for the lineal middleweight championship of the world. Freddie Roach deserves credit for this stunning turn of events.
Lastly, we must take into account what Freddie Roach did for Manny Pacquiao last year. The last time we saw Pacquiao in the ring in 2012, it was an eerie scene where a concussive KO created a look of devastation on Roach?s face. We wondered if we?d ever seen Manny fight again. If Manny were to fight some more, we weren?t sure what was left of the gifted legend that went on that historic run from 2008 through 2012.
Manny and Freddie answered those questions on November 24th of 2013 in Macau against Brandon Rios. Though just shy of his 35th birthday, and after 18 hard-fought years in the ring, Manny showed a different, yet stunningly effective style. He was light on his feet, and moved in and out at weird angles, but with so much more restraint and patience than what we were used to seeing. This was a different Manny: More cautious and defensive, but still quite the volume puncher.
What a performance. Manny took a little off his fastball and decided to work the corners of the plate with precision and supreme confidence in his craft. Freddie has taught the old Aspin new tricks; tricks that will prolong his career and make for many more massive paydays.
In a year where no other candidate can match these lofty achievements and with such a diverse stable of fighters, Freddie Roach is the 2013 3morerounds Trainer of the Year.
