Roach trash talks Mayweather Sr.
Roach, voted Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Assoc. of America six times, threw a couple of jabs, a couple of hooks and one mighty uppercut in the direction of his opposite number, Floyd Mayweather Sr., father and trainer of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Roach did so while talking on the phone to Yahoo Sports. It might have been fight hype but Floyd Jr.’s dad, a formidable boxer in his day, has a rep for having a temper and Roach was trying to exploit that.
He craftily suggested that Floyd Jr.’s uncle Roger Mayweather, his trainer before his dad took over, is a better trainer and a better guy to have in your corner on fight night.
“My whole thing is Floyd’s not going to have his best cornerman in his corner because there’s no question in my mind that Roger is the better trainer,” Roach said. “Floyd got 90 percent of his wins with Roger working with him. Roger is way better. I think Floyd Sr. is a terrible cornerman, I really do.
“That’s going to work to our advantage on fight night because in the corner, I’m not going to be nervous and I’ll be able to calmly talk to Manny and make whatever adjustments we have to make,” he said. “But Floyd Sr. can’t get his message out in that minute. He gets so excited and worked up and he starts to stutter so he can’t give his fighter any useful (advice).”
May 2 superfight in Las Vegas
Ouch. Hurts. Hype? Yes, but it might get into the heads of both Floyds, who are in Las Vegas training for the May 2 fight. Pacquiao is in L.A. awaiting the return of Roach, who made his comments from Macau, China, there to ready his fighter, Zou Shiming, fighting Amnat Ruenroeng for the IBF flyweight title on Saturday, March 7.
Roach had said he’ll fly back to L.A. before the Shiming fight to start working with Pacquiao, but it’s unclear now if he’ll stay for the fight and then return. In any case, he’s capable of getting into the head of the Mayweather camp from Macau and he had more choice words for Floyd Sr. concerning his corner work.
“Look, Floyd was in the gym when he was 5 and the guy was born to fight,” Roach said. “Everyone who has been around this sport knows that. You have to give him a ton of credit. He has great talent, but he’s extremely smart in the ring and he knows what he’s doing. He’s training himself now. I know that. He’s a self-made guy.
“He’ll get himself prepared for this fight because he always has done that. But in a fight like this, where it’s a tighter fight and he’s not such a huge favorite, he could use a little advice or suggestion from his corner. But he’s not going to get that from his father, so that’s another advantage for us.”
