ROACH ON FLOYD: "HE DOESN'T WANT TO FIGHT US. HE'S BEEN RUNNING FOR TWO YEARS NOW"
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 26 Jan 2012
Philadelphia, PA - If you are like the millions of boxing fans eager for the super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather to finally materialize, Freddie Roach is not the man to ask about it. Pacquiao's long time coach has long given up on the proposed super fight when he talked to me and another boxing writer last Saturday in Philadelphia after he did on - air commentary on the initial offering of NBC Sports Network's quarterly boxing show called "Fight Night."
"The fight won't happen." was his initial reply when asked about what is possibly the biggest fight in boxing in years. Roach, the five time trainer of the year blames the undefeated Mayweather for the fight not happening. He downplays Mayweather's challenges , most of it are by the way of his Twitter and Facebook account. "Typical Mayweather. He does not want to fight us. He has been running for two years now. Come on, What's new?" said Roach.
Roach has no doubt that the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao will not happen on May 5, 2012. A date Mayweather and co-promoter Golden Boy Promotions has reserved for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of Mayweather and Pacquiao's bouts last year. "No." was his simple answer when asked if there is a chance that the fight can still be made for the said date.
Reports from last week indicate that Mayweather called Pacquiao in the Philippines to demand the fight. One that the seven class world champ agreed to except for one condition, a 50-50 purse split. A provision Mayweather said no to, in an email sent to news channel ESPN the day after he spoke to Pacquiao.
Roach won't lose sleep if ever negotiations for the fight will once again go nowhere. "It's the biggest fight in the world. It is the biggest challenge for us out there. It is the fight we want. But if he (Mayweather) does not want 50-50, we got lot of guys out there. That's not a problem," he said. Those guys include newly crowned junior welterweight champ Lamont Peterson, welterweight Timothy Bradley, and former Pacquiao opponents in Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto. "Bob (Arum) is going to make a deal with one of those four," Roach said. I asked him who his preference was among the four and he simply replied, "I don't care. Just give me an opponent and I will get him ready." Roach says that Pacquiao will most likely fight on a date in June of this year.
The Hall of Fame bound coach did not believe that Mayweather truly wants to fight Pacquiao. "No way. He (Mayweather) is scared. He does not want to take a chance. He wants that zero so badly in his record so that he can say that he is better than Sugar Ray Robinson and all these great fighters because he's never lost. Losing makes you a better fighter at some point, he's not better than those fighters and he never will be," was Roach's assessment of the undefeated boxer. Roach stated that he has not talked to Pacquiao lately when I inquired about it.
Besides training Pacquiao and the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Amir Khan, Roach has been very busy lately with other activities. He is the subject of HBO's documentary entitled "On Freddie Roach.." It is a six episode show that details Roach's life in and out of the ring. "It is very hard to watch yourself on TV, it really is," he said of the show "There is no acting, just me. They never asked me to do anything in the show. I never acted for them, I never acted for the cameras. Peter Berg and Jim Lampley did a nice job and I'm very happy with the show," added Roach.
Lastly, I asked him if he liked commentating and being on the microphone for a change, "It's a little different. I like the challenge," he replied. "It is very challenging for me and I am getting better at it, I am not Jim Lampley yet," he ended laughingly.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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