Roach, who has trained Pacquiao for over a decade, has an unfinished business with Mayweather’s father.
Floyd Sr and Roach were on the opposite corners of the ring when Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton in the second round of their fight in 2009.
As Hatton’s trainer, Floyd Sr was looking at a knockout win for the Briton but it turned out that it was Hatton who was knocked out by Pacquiao. Floyd Sr later blamed Hatton for not following his instructions.
In the buildup to the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, Floyd Sr and Roach have been critical with each other’s capabilities with Floyd Sr calling Roach a joke.
“Freddie ‘The Joke Coach’ Roach. That’s what I think he is. He’s a joke of a coach,” Mayweather said
When asked who is the better fighter between him and Roach, Floyd Sr said he is certainly the better fighter.
“I most definitely was the better fighter than Freddie Roach. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a poster down at the gym where Freddie’s on my undercard,” Mayweather said.
Both Floyd Sr and Roach were professional boxers before they became boxing trainers.
For his part Roach said, “Well, you know what, I tried really hard. I fought on TV a lot more than him. I was a lot more popular than him.”
Soon after the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, Floyd Sr continued to criticize Roach’s coaching prowess, accelerating his attacks during the first fight negotiation for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
For a while there have been a noticeable lull in the exchange of “below the belt” attacks by Floyd Sr on Roach’s ability as trainer.
Mayweather may have asked his trainer-father to stop commenting on the ongoing fight talks as it may be placed in jeopardy.
But once the fight is officially announced, fight fans can expect Floyd Sr to mount a sustained attack on Roach’s credentials as trainer.
Since Pacquiao isn’t a good trash talker, Mayweather can do all the trash talking by himself and pretty soon he will sound monotonous.
Trash talk as a marketing tool is part of hyping fights to gain public awareness and it is likely that Mayweather will allow his father to resume his “on and off” tirades on Roach on the sidelines of the press tour.
While Roach is more civilized on his verbal counter attacks off the ring, Floyd Sr could be rough to a bit uncivilized with his statements which could hurt Roach’s sensibilities.
Once the official fight announcement is made, fight fans will be treated to a bonus bout off the ring and that would be the parallel fight between Mayweather Sr and Roach.
There will be no fight rules to follow but the law on libel would be in effect.
