NEW YORK: Three-time trainer Of The Year, Freddie Roach, emphatically denied a report that he has filed a lawsuit against New York’s Paulie Malignaggi, who will challenge Roach’s WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Amir Khan, on Saturday night here at Madison Square Garden.
The 29-year-old Malignaggi (27-3, five knockouts) has implied steroid use by both the 23-year-old Khan (22-1, 16 KOs) and Roach’s 31-year-old, seven-time champion, Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs), who is also the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) king and considered among the sport’s premiere fighters, pound-for-pound.
But Roach called a claim that he has filed a libel suit “Ridiculous.”
“Freddie Roach does not file lawsuits. Freddie Roach Does not sue people,” said Roach. “I don’t know that reporter. Never heard of that person, and I don’t recall speaking to that person in my entire life.”
Pacquiao, however, is seeking compensatory damages in a lawsuit that names Floyd Mayweather, his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., his uncle, Roger Mayweather, and Richard Schaefer, and, Oscar De La Hoya — CEO and president, respectively, of Golden Boy Promotions.
Pacquiao’s suit alleges that Mayweather’s camp has implied that the Filipino star has used steroids.
