LAS VEGAS ? The sight of Freddie Roach roaming the press center at a major pay per view is a familiar one. The longtime trainer of Manny Pacquiao, Roach has been a central figure at dozens of these events ? and a significant promotional asset at each one. Radio interviews are followed by print interviews, podcasts followed by fanboys in T-shirts thrusting a camcorder in Roach’s face.
He does them all smiling. He does them all without complaint.
“He is a go-to guy at these shows,” said Fred Sternburg, Pacquiao’s publicist. “He can save a promotion. I’ve never had him turn me down when he was available to do something.”
This week is no different. With the usual fervor around Pacquiao diminished ? in part due to a lackluster performance against Floyd Mayweather last May, in part due to Pacquiao’s disparaging comments about gays more recently ? Roach has been vital to breathing life into the promotion. There he was on Thursday, casually attired in a green T-shirt, oversized shorts and beat-up sneakers, wandering the MGM Grand press room, selling Pacquiao’s rubber match against Tim Bradley on Saturday to anyone willing to listen.
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Manny Pacquiao talks to trainer Freddie Roach during a workout. (AP) A favored topic is Roach’s relationship with Teddy Atlas, Bradley’s trainer, who has exchanged barbs with Roach throughout the promotion. Roach doesn’t like Atlas. As an analyst for ESPN, Atlas criticized Roach, and Roach has not forgotten it. And with buzz for the fight sluggish, Roach has not missed an opportunity to take shots at his counterpart. As Roach prepared for a radio interview, he observed Atlas leaving the room. “Teddy can’t be in the same room as me,” Roach said. “What a piece of [expletive].”
At 56, Roach has the energy of a man half his age. To see him work is to forget there is an illness progressively ravaging him. It’s been 26 years since Roach was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a consequence of a career spent taking too many shots in the ring. He wears the symptoms daily ? the tilted neck, the slurred speech, the tremors that once embarrassed him ? and he beats them back with drug prescriptions from his doctor every few months.
Those around Roach wonder: When will this disease get the best of him? Parkinson’s is chronic and slowly progressive, and there is no cure. The questions multiplied last year when Roach, beset by a crippling back injury, appeared to regress to the eyes of those around him.
“I saw a big deterioration in his health,” said Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum. “I don’t know how he did it. I would look at him and say to people, ‘I don’t know how he is going to survive.’ “
Roach says the back injury was his biggest problem last year. Most days, Roach is out the door at 7 a.m. and settled into his Wild Card gym in Hollywood soon after. Last year, Roach says, “It took a lot longer to get me going.” His days didn’t change, though. Training sessions with Pacquiao are followed by ones with Cotto, with anyone from Jose Ramirez to Frankie Gomez to Zou Shiming mixed in between. “Freddie has a lot of fighters,” says Roach’s prot?g?, Marvin Somodio. “They come, and he never complains.”
Boxing, see, remains Roach’s salvation. Inside the ring, catching Pacquiao, advising Cotto, molding Gomez, Roach is at peace. The violent sport that cursed him with this disease has become his best treatment. Asked how long he sees Roach in boxing, Somodio laughs. “Boxing is Freddie’s life,” he says. “I don’t ever see him giving it up.”
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Boxer Manny Pacquiao talks to his trainer Freddie Roach (L) during a press conference. (AFP) Roach understands the interest in his future. He thinks it’s bright; a new drug regimen ? pills that Roach washes down four times a day ? has had a measurable impact.
“The tremors have slowed down quite a bit,” Roach told Yahoo! Sports. “I’m starting to walk better.”
Others have noticed.
“His Parkinson’s is less visible than what it was six months ago,” Arum said. “He’s walking better, he’s talking better, he looks like he is feeling a lot better. Whatever he is doing now has seemed to improve him.”
Roach knows the future is unpredictable. His doctors, Roach says, are “thrilled” with his health. “He says I’m very unusual,” Roach said.
Still, Parkinson’s is a mighty foe. Roach listens to friends, doctors, but there is only one person who can tell him when to quit. For years, Roach’s mother, Barbara, was a nurse at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, in Massachusetts. Every few months, Roach brings his mother in to observe him working the mitts. Last week, she watched one of Pacquiao’s training sessions. When Mom tells him he can’t do it anymore, Roach says, that’s when he will walk away.
Until then Roach will continue working, continue promoting, continue throwing himself into the sport he loves. After a long day of interviews on Thursday, a reporter called Roach’s assistant to request a phone call. Minutes later, Roach called back. He was ready to talk. He always is.
