The Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios event got a little more buzz late Tuesday when a near brawl broke out between trainer Freddie Roach and members from Rios? team.
Pacquiao and Rios are set to meet this Saturday in the Cotai Arena inside of the Venetian Resort in Macau, China in an HBO pay per view duel.
The aforementioned altercation took place when Roach, longtime trainer of Pacquiao, and Garcia, Rios? coach dating back to his amateurs, began exchanging words with one another due to Rios being a little late with his workout inside of the lone gym in the hotel.
Roach was ready to take over the facility with some of his fighters and when Garcia attempted to explain to him that Rios was a little behind with his workout due to some interview obligations with ESPN, the Five-time Trainer of the Year got irate and could be heard calling Garcia a ?piece of sh*t?.
Moments later, Roach began trading words with embattled strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who used to work for Pacquiao before assisting Rios for this camp. Roach approached Ariza and was subsequently kicked.
Roach continued to sound off, appearing to call one of Garcia?s assistant trainers, Donald Leary, a ?f*cking Mexican?. Those words caused Leary to attempt to swing for Roach before things were eventually calmed down while all parties were separated.
Asked why he lashed out at Garcia in the first place, Roach insisted that he was simply reacting to previous shots fired by the Oxnard, Calif.-based coach.
?But he told me to go f*ck myself first,? Roach revealed to various media members. ?That?s why I wasn?t going to use any bad language until they came on to me. I just wanted them to leave the gym and it was our time.?
When asked why he couldn?t wait just a little bit longer for Rios to finish up his regimen, Roach revealed that Garcia was asking for more than just a few minutes to wrap up his fighter?s workout.
?I sat there waiting like ten minutes for him to jump rope,? Roach explained. ?Because I know that?s towards the end of the workout. I didn?t go over to Garcia until he was done jumping rope. I went over and I said ?Robert, you?re on our time.? And he said [they] were staying for a half hour more.?
As he continued to speak to the press, you can tell that Roach was disappointed to see things escalate in the fashion they did, but he wasn?t exactly remorseful for his actions.
?If Bob Arum would have scripted this, I would have had a better script,? Roach explained. ?But I?m sorry I didn?t.?
If anything, Roach regrets how all of this may have an adverse effect on Pacquiao.
?The only thing I regret is that it may have upset Manny a little, because Manny?s a good guy and he doesn?t want stuff like this happening,? Roach stated. ?I got a little emotional in the back room because I was worrying about Manny.
?That?s my biggest fear right now,? Roach added. ?That?s the last thing in the world I would want to do.?
Near brawl in Macau as Freddie Roach confronts Team Rios and gets kicked by Alex Ariza
