HANDLE WITH CARE: Roach is one of the most revered coaches of recent times
FREDDIE ROACH is only 48 but doesn?t need to work any more. Yet he tends to his gym between 8am and 8pm on weekdays and 9am-4pm on Saturdays and for a considerable part of the year is in training camps.
He?s one of boxing?s most revered trainers and a national hero in a country on the other side of the world from his apartment in Los Angeles.
He was a top former pro, a contender, but has made his name ? and his fortune ? as a trainer who has helped 22 current or former world champions. He has taken a full-blooded right hook from former client Mike Tyson, got too friendly with Virgil Hill, gone after James Toney and one of his few regrets is not slapping Oscar De La Hoya.
There?s not much this man, who takes two pills three times a day to keep his Parkinson?s disease in check, hasn?t done during his life in boxing. And despite his success, he?s grounded, determined to achieve more and one of the most accessible big names in the business.
Anyone strolling around North Hollywood can walk into Freddie?s famed Wild Card Gym and talk to him. For $5 they can train there. If fighters want to stay late ? beyond 8pm ? they can, and Freddie has been known to wait anything up to two hours for them to finish. If passers-by want to find him after hours they could try the Thai restaurant (which comes recommended by the author) a few doors down from the gym, where he eats most nights, or his apartment next door.
