Becoming a fighter was a tradition for the sons of former New England featherweight champion and rugged taskmaster Paul Roach.
You laced them up early and often in this Irish American brood in a blue collar brawler Boston suburb.
Freddie was a pro boxer. Dominic, better known as Pepper, was also. Oldest brother Al hung up the gloves at age 16 because his father was so demanding and strict.
Youngest brother Joey, especially close to Manny Pacquiao trainer Coach Freddie, also tried his hand as a pro fighter.
Joey, who is said to have had a sudden heart attack and died in Las Vegas on Saturday, had a respectable 8?3-3 record in 14 pro bouts including three KOs.
He was a bantamweight.
American fight guy Cowboy Ken Smith, living in the Philippines now, reports that as an amateur Joey fought two time Olympian Robert Shannon in a National AAU tournament.
Joey made a more than comfortable living when he remained in Vegas and did not return to Dedham, Mass., where the six Roaches, five boys and one girl, grew up.
Joey launched a call center operation known as Advanced Integrated Communications which became highly successful.
Freddie “Choir Boy” Roach (Boxrec Photo)
For a time after he retired as a fighter, Freddie worked at the call center before settling in as a trainer and a protege of his own trainer, Hall Of Famer Eddie Futch.
Futch, a Detroit boyhood friend and amateur teammate of legendary Joe Louis, was so widely respected in boxing that he was referred to as ?Mister Futch? by almost everyone in the sport.
Paul Roach died in 1192, only 62, after having had Alzheimer’s. Freddie tells a poignant story of calling his estranged father near the end at a nursing home and identifying himself. Freddie wanted to make some contact with his ailing Dad.
Freddie said his father said he had no son by that name and hung up.
Also surviving is mother and former boxing judge Barbara Roach, a nurse who lives in a Las Vegas home that Coach Freddie bought for her.
Freddie brought his Mom with him to New York on June 12 when he won yet another Trainer of the Year Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Pepper Roach, who nows help Freddie at the famed Wild Card Gym in a sketchy section of Hollywood, fought as a featherweight and was 7-2-1 with one KO in his pro career.
Patriarch Paul was 29-5-2, 10 knockouts, in a New England area career which lasted from 1948 to 1953.
As for “Choir Boy” Freddie, he lost a majority decision to the great Bobby Chacon and appeared on ESPN shows. He was twice beaten by New Mexico’s tough Louie Burke.
Freddie’s pro log 39-13 with 15 KOs and most of those losses coming at the tail end of his career. The lightweight was known for his fighting heart and not the best defense. Freddie boxed professionally from 1978 to 1986.
Despite having Parkinson’s, Freddie has become widely recognized as a maker of world champions.
His prize pupil and one who steadily improved under his guidance is, of course, Pacman.
