“I get a little upset when Floyd Mayweather Sr. or Bob Arum says something about me.”
Boxingtalk recently caught up with legendary trainer Freddie Roach to talk about the highly anticipated fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. Roach talks about the pressure of training Oscar for this fight as well as the jealousy he feels he’s getting for getting the nod to train Oscar. He also discusses his other fighters like Manny Pacquiao, Israel Vazquez and James Toney. A must read. Check it out!
PC: How is everything going Freddie?
FR: Everything is going good.
PC: Obviously the Lazcano fight didn’t go the way you would’ve liked it to. What do you think went wrong in the fight? FR: The game plan was to break him down and get him into the later rounds because Vivian is a fast starter. He didn’t end up starting so fast. I thought at the end of the 10th round we were where we needed to be and Lazcano was going to knock him out, but Vivian made the adjustments and got on his toes and started boxing and Juan just kind of hit the wall seems like and he couldn’t keep up with him.
PC: I know the press tours are coming up for the De La Hoya fight. Will you be able to be in the corner of Israel Vazquez on March 3rd against Marquez?
FR: I’m working on that right now with Richard Schaefer. I’m not sure at this point. My first fight with Speedy Gonzales is on that show as well.
PC: Will you be training Oscar in Puerto Rico and if so when do you guys head out there?
FR: We go on a press tour this week. We’re hitting 12 cities in 8 days on the press tour and then we go back to LA on the 28th and we’re scheduled to leave for Puerto Rico on March 1st. PC: Is the plan to still try and bring Manny Pacquiao out there to train in Puerto Rico with you and Oscar?
FR: I talked to Manny last night and he’s not sure what he wants to do yet. I asked if he wanted to come to Puerto Rico with me or did he want to stay at the Wildcard and he was unsure what he wanted to do right now. If he stays here with Justin, I’ll work with him before I leave, but at this point he hasn’t made his mind up.
PC: What do you know about Manny’s opponent Jorge Solis?
FR: All I know about him is he’s like 33-0 with about 23 knockouts. If you look at his record, he hasn’t fought any big names that I could see, but I was very disappointed that somebody okayed that opponent. I heard it was a manager at Top Rank that okayed the opponent and said this guy was a good fight for Manny. They decided to take this fight without seeing any tape on the guy. This will be the first fight that I haven’t okayed the opponent since I’ve been with Manny. You know Top Rank is just trying to mess with me a little bit because I’m training Oscar now.
PC: Do you feel any added pressure being brought into a fight of this magnitude with all the hype around who would train Oscar for you to get the nod?
FR: It’s a little bit of pressure on me. I get a little upset when Floyd Mayweather Sr. or Bob Arum says something about me. I have to take a deep breathe and let it go because that’s the way life is. People get jealous of you at times. I’m happy I got the job; I’m happy I was their choice. I really look forward to the challenge. I think I can bring out the best in Oscar, I hear he has great work ethic and one thing Oscar made sure is that I know I am the boss. I can run camp the way I want to and I look forward to it.
PC: Who approached you with the idea of training Oscar because you don’t seem like you were one of the trainer’s who were throwing your name into the hat?
FR: Richard Schaefer called and asked if I would be interested in training Oscar and they had asked me a couple of times in the past, but I had to turn them down because I just didn’t have the time. This is a big fight and I had to make the time. I’m disappointed that I can’t make some of my other fighters fights coming up, and that’s the sad part about making the choice, but on the other hand, being a part of the fight of the century was tough to pass up. You don’t get that opportunity too often.
PC: What are some of the things you feel Oscar needs to do to beat Floyd?
FR: He has to make it a fight. Oscar is the bigger guy and I think he has to get Floyd out of character a little bit and let him know it’s a fight. I think Oscar can rough him up and bully him a little to let him know he’s in a fight. He also needs to set traps because Floyd does make mistakes at times and we have to take advantage of them.
PC: Do you think Floyd Sr.’s 2 million dollar proposal was overpriced to train Oscar for this fight?
FR: I really don’t think it’s a money issue to be honest with you. Oscar could obviously pay anybody whatever he wants, but what I get from conversations is that they think blood is thicker than water and could they really count on Mayweather to go against his son. I think they were a little weary about that for a couple of reasons. I think the public idea with the media. It’s tough to train a guy to beat your son. Maybe it adds a little hype to the fight, but I think it would’ve had a more negative affect in the long run. A lot of people are already asking how could he train someone to fight his son. I don’t think it was the money though.
PC: Switching gears, have you talked to James Toney lately?
FR: I haven’t talked to James since the day after the fight. He was a little bit disappointed the last time I did talk to him. I called him a couple of times, but he hasn’t surfaced yet. PC: I know you haven’t liked some of the things you’ve been seeing in James. What would you advise him to do at this point in his career?
FR: I talked to him and his advisor about the fight and I pretty much told them if I don’t see the things I need to see or want to see, then I’d advise him to retire. I know he feels good, but he’s had a lot of fights and I don’t want to see him get beat up like he did in his last fight and that was the first time in my life I’ve seen James Toney take heavy shots. They take their toll on you. If he comes back to the gym and dedicates himself, trains hard and shows me some of the things I want to see, then I’ll be with him and if not, I’ll probably tell him it’s best to retire.
PC: I know you guys have a hot prospect in Vanes Martirosyan at the Wildcard gym that just had a knockout victory. Could you speak about him a little?
FR: Vanes is a good fighter. He’s getting better all the time and I think we need to step up his opponents. I want to put him in there with higher competition because the better competition we put him in with in the gym, he rises to the occasion. He looked good against Roman Karmazin and some other fighters of that caliber. I would like to set him up because he’s a great prospect and a great kid.
PC: I appreciate your time and I always appreciate your honesty. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
FR: Thank you and call me anytime ok!
