Imelda to watch next Pacquiao fight ? Roach
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 21 Dec 2010
For future Hall of Fame boxing trainer Freddie Roach, meeting former First Lady Imelda Marcos is one experience he will never forget.
?It was one of the best things that happened to me in my career as a boxer and trainer,? Roach told MALAYA by way of describing his four-hour rendezvous with the wife of former President Marcos with whom he and promoter Bob Arum had a luncheon meeting Tuesday last week.
?We talked about a lot of things ? politics, her struggle in life, her family?s life in exile ? everything,? Roach said about the meeting arranged by Arum?s wife Lovee and held at the Makati Shangrila on the eve of their departure to General Santos City to join Manny Pacquiao?s 32nd birthday celebration.
?Why, she even offered me a pair of shoes,? Roach said rather jestingly. ?Kidding aside, she told me she is a big fan of me.?
?I don?t know how Mrs. Marcos and Lovee got acquainted, but I was told Bob met the First Lady during the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight held here in Manila three some decades ago,? he said.
Roach was referring to the third and last of the trilogy between Ali and Frazier, dubbed ?Thrilla in Manila? held October 1, 1975 where Arum?s, who was then only 45, was Ali?s promoter.
Mrs. Marcos was one of those responsible for the fight, considered by many as the ?greatest fight of all-time,?.
Roach, a four-time ?Trainer of the Year? awardee of the Boxing Writers Association of America, couldn?t help expressed amazement over the former First Lady?s intelligence despite her advanced age.
?At 81 years old, I was impressed by her mental sharpness and recollection as she talked about everything under the sun, including Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussien and many other international figures and events,? the man who steered Pacquiao to boxing stardom said.
?She was really amazing. My meeting with her came out as very entertaining, too. I learned a lot not only about the Philippines but also about many countries,? he quipped.
?I was told that while President Marcos, indeed, wielded his power governing the country, Mrs. Marcos used her charm in getting what she wanted for her many projects,? Roach said.
Roach, who as an amateur earned a slot as alternate in the United States Olympic team in the 1976 Montreal Games also said Arum, Lovee and himself a dinner with George Araneta, owner of the Araneta Coliseum where the Ali-Frazier classic was held.
Known as the Big Dome, the Araneta Coliseum, inaugurated in 1961 when local boxing hero Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde won the world junior lightweight crown over Harold Gomez, was re-Christened the ?Philippine Coliseum? for the ?Thrilla.?
Asked whether they talked about using her charm again to stage another big boxing match in Manila similar to the ?Thrilla?, roach retorted: ?No, but she promised to watch Manny?s next fight along with his grandson Manuel.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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