LOS ANGELES ? Even before Manny Pacquiao walked into his life one spring day in 2001, Freddie Roach had already built up a reputation for being one of prizefighting?s top trainers.
Roach has been given awards and received numerous accolades but nothing compares to what he has been getting lately.
Roach, a former fighter during his heyday, had been approached many times before by fans asking him for autographs and having their picture taken with him.
“Of course, I enjoy it and I like it,” said Roach late Saturday afternoon when all the people–mostly diehard Manny Pacquiao fans–had left the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
But nothing prepared him for the droves of Pacquiao fans who regularly showed up at his gym whenever Pacquiao is around training for a big fight.
“There were lots of people today,” said the 48-year-old Roach, whose gym virtually becomes Little Manila when Pacquiao is in town.
Filipinos of all ages troop to the Wild Card starting at around noon from Monday to Saturday since Pacquiao usually shows up for practice sometime between 12:45 p.m. to 1 p.m.
One would think that they won?t be able to wait for three hours for the workout to finish but most of them would either hang around the gym or dine on Thai food in a restaurant just a few steps away and wait for Pacquiao to end his training session so they could get their chance to be near him.
And with Pacquiao?s fame comes a certain degree of popularity too for Roach, who is the most photographed personality inside the sweat shop on Vine Street next to the Filipino puncher.
Grownups with toddlers, pre-teens, teens and adolescents always ask for pictures to be taken with Roach and the cornerman swears it has never happened to him before.
“No, never,” said Roach, a very likable fellow from Boston who is widely credited for whipping up Pacquiao into one menacing machine of malevolence.
There?s even one family which came by over the weekend to have pictures taken with him once again and have some stuff signed.
“Remember him? He is the one who?s with you in a picture that we put on the wall,” a thirty-something Filipino man said to his son, wide-eyed from the sheer excitement of seeing Roach in the flesh once again.
After granting the family?s wish, Roach walked towards near the entrance where a couple of young men, also from the Philippines, had been standing for a while waiting for Roach to have his break.
“Hey guys, what?s up?” Roach said.
One of them asked for an autographed photo while the other struck a pose.
Roach was told that the fellow was scheduled to head back to the Philippines that night and swore that his trip to the US would not be complete without making a pilgrimage to the Wild Card.
