The Way I See It 10.28.09: Freddie Roach's Problem

Posted by Joe Roche on 10.28.2009

With tension mounting amongst Team Pacquiao, Joe Roche is here to say that Coach Freddie better be ready to pack his bags on November 15th.

This past week HBO's debut episode of 24/7 shined a light on the increasing tension between pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach. Ever since Pacquiao decided that he would hold his training camp in Baguio City instead of Mexico like Roach had hoped there has been tension in the camp. The difficulties only increased during the camp in Baguio when a pair of typhoons struck the Philippines. The troubles continued to mount as rising tension between Roach and his staff and Pacquiao's advisor Michael Koncz came to a head with physical blows between Koncz and Pacquiao's strength and condition coach Alex Ariza. Rumors have swirled about a potential breakup of the Pacquiao and Roach relationship and I think it's time that we take a closer look at the volatile situation.

The Way I See It: There is a significant problem on Team Pacquiao.



The trainer and the fighter don't seem to be able to speak to one another, the middle man between the two is widely regarded as the most despised man in Manilla, and the people involved in the situation don't seem bothered by it because as long as Manny wins, strife is just part of the game.

Make no mistake this Pacquiao-Roach thing is coming to a head. If you saw "24/7" then you witnessed the beginning of the end. Freddie Roach looked dead serious when he told the cameras that he was ready to quit when Manny wouldn't listen to him and move the camp from Baguio before the second storm hit.

In my mind the biggest issue between Pacquiao and Roach is that they are both at the top of their game. In boxing as in life, when you're on top you tend to get a sense that you are untouchable. Right now Pacquiao is the pound for pound king and with that there is a sense around Team Pacman that Roach is lucky to have Pacquiao because he could find any trainer in the world at the drop of the hat to bend over backwards and join the rank and file. On the other hand Roach is the hottest commodity on the boxing trainer landscape and he must feel as though he made Pacquiao what he is today – and Roach could always go out and find the next Manny Pacquiao just like he went out and created this current pound for pound king. Can you see how this dichotomy could create some tension?

The biggest problem is that both of the men are wrong.

I don't need to spend space talking about how without Roach Pacquiao would be the same one dimensional fighter that we all knew and loved. I also don't have to bore you with the fact that Freddie Roach became the "man" after he transformed Pacquiao into the best pound for pound fighter in boxing. Those topics have been covered ad nausea by people better qualified to talk about them to me.

My opinion is that Freddie Roach needs to ship up or ship out of Pacland after the Cotto fight on November 14th.

The fact is – Manny Pacquiao is an industry. Pacquiao the fighter, the businessman, the singer/actor/politician, he is the CEO of Manny Pacquiao the enterprise, the machine that keeps all of these people employed – that keeps Freddie Roach employed. And therein lies the problem for Coach Roach. At the end of the day – he is an employee of Manny Pacquiao.

When Manny's chef wakes up in the morning and Manny asks for fresh fruit and meatloaf, the chef doesn't get to make pancakes. When Manny calls his cleaning lady and tells her to clean the master bathroom she doesn't get to wait until Thursday because she feels it's clean already. When you or I go to work in the morning we don't get to tell our bosses what we'll be doing that afternoon --- because that's not how the system works. Somehow Freddie forgot that. Somewhere along the line he allowed the accolades and the bright lights to blind him, and he started acting like he was the one in charge.

A lot of this has to do I am sure with Pacquiao not speaking very good English. Pacquiao tries his best to do interviews, and to be a character on the 24/7 show, but the truth is that when the media wants a quote from Pacland they go to Coach Roach, when the television cameras need a sound bite they go to Coach Roach – and as a by-product of that attention Roach started to become Pacquiao in this country. Roach took the accolades and attention that were directed towards Pacquiao because he became the public persona and face of his charge.

So Roach started to feel like his job was more then what it actually is – he started feeling as if he was the life coach, the agent, the publicist, and the hand that rocks the cradle for Manny Pacquiao when in reality he is, at the end of the day, the guy who tells him [Manny] when to throw a right, and when to run a lap. To be sure the position that Freddie Roach holds in Team Pacman is an important one – probably the most important one, besides fighter, which is the root of the problem. Freddie's job is subservient to the fighter – and he'd do well to remember that.



Freddie's job is to prepare Manny for Miguel Cotto. His job isn't to dictate where that training will take place, or who will be present, or what Manny will eat, or what Manny will drive, or who he'll have meetings with in the rain. If Manny wants to train in Baguio City with Michael Koncz then it's not Freddie's place to disagree – if Freddie Roach wants to work for Manny Pacquiao then he has to work for Manny Pacquiao for better or for worse, not vice versa.

Now there are guys out there who would love to have Freddie Roach telling them where to train, when to train, and who to train with. There is a line of fighters at the Wild Card Gym every week looking for that type of instruction. But Manny Pacquiao isn't one of them.

Fighters go through trainers like regular people go through undershirts. You very rarely hear about fighters and trainers spending an extended period together. Once you've trained with a certain trainer for long enough the appeal wears off – the knowledge has been passed, the skills have been learned and when the teaching period is over fighters tend to think that they have nothing left to gain from a particular trainer. Freddie Roach gets paid a hefty sum for his services to Pacquiao – and if Pacquiao feels as if his judgment is best (which is his right as the man who pays the bills by the way) then it's the end of the road for Freddie Roach.

Now maybe some of this is Manny's fault – I mean for all I know Freddie has never changed his act and the only thing that has changed is Manny's attitude. Much of that has to come with the success that Manny has achieved, and the weight that he must feel has been placed on his shoulders to burden. However, even if that's true it's not Pacquiao's job to conform to his trainer, it's the trainer's job to conform to the fighter. Freddie would have a legitimate beef if Manny wasn't showing up in the gym, or wasn't sparring, or running, or doing what it is that Freddie asks Manny to do. However, the complaints that we've heard of are about location, and surroundings and it's not Freddie's job to dictate those things. If Pacquiao wants to train on the international space station then its Freddie's job to put together a workout, grab an anti-gravity belt and get on a rocket ship.

Either that or turn down the check from Team Pacquiao and spend more time with Amir Khan, which ultimately is where this is headed. I think Freddie has done everything he can for Manny and vice versa. Both men have tremendous egos, both men want things done their way but only one man has the authority to do anything about it. Freddie should take the high road and gracefully bow out from his position at the helm of the S.S. Pacquiao so he can save face. If Pacquiao defeats Cotto then it'll be the perfect time to bow out and tell us all that Freddie wants some new challenges. If Pacquiao loses to Cotto on Nov. 14th then Freddie can say Manny didn't listen to him, that led to the loss (even if he says it behind closed doors) and then move on to train Amir Khan.


- It may be time for Freddie to find a new corner

The old saying goes – "you can't fight City Hall" and in this case Pacquiao is City Hall. If Freddie doesn't want to train in Baguio, and doesn't want to deal with Michael Koncz, and doesn't want to deal with Pacquiao's acting, singing, and political careers two months before a fight then he'd be better off stepping down. Freddie Roach has a nice seat at the Pacman table, but he isn't the one laying out the place settings and if he can't live with that then I think his run with Pacquiao has come to an end.

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The Way I See Bullet Points

- Fight of the Year Alert: For those of you who missed the amazing clash between Ryan Rhodes and Jamie Moore for Moore's EBU light middleweight title please do me a favor and seek out a tape of that fight immediately. The fight was a slugfest from the opening bell, and absolute war that showed both men's heart, will and determination. This was an old school type of a fight – very reminiscent of a Vinny Paz/Greg Haugen fight or something of that ilk. Not only would I nominate this fight for FOTY, but I'd also say that the sixth round may very well have been the best round of the year. Both men simply laid it all out on the line and in the seventh round Rhodes stopped Moore. Moore went down early in the seventh but fought back later in the round and seemed to have brushed off the knockdown until Rhodes caught him one more time and the ref had to stop the fight. Simply an amazing bout and one that you should absolutely be checking out as soon as you finish reading this column.

- As someone who had absolutely nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon I made it a point to seek out a feed of the Tomasz Adamek – Andrew Golota fight. I don't think there was anyone who didn't expect Adamek to win the fight. I also don't think many people were surprised at how fast, sharp and punishing Adamek was throughout the four plus rounds that the bout lasted. However, am I alone in being shocked at how small Adamek looked in the ring with Golota? Obviously some of the disparity had to do with the fact that Golota was in horrendous shape and came to the ring weighing more then he had ever weighed for a fight, but my main concern was with Adamek's frame. Simply put, he didn't look like a heavyweight – he looked like a light heavyweight who was fighting far above his weight class against a vastly inferior opponent. I know Adamek is talking about a Klitschko fight in 2010 but Adamek at 215 against either of the Klitschko's at 244 simply wouldn't be a very good fight for Tomasz. I think the only heavyweight bout out there right now for Adamek that I'm interested in seeing is against David Haye, and frankly I'd rather see that fight at cruiserweight.

- HBO's 24/7 Pacquiao/Cotto kicked off this past Saturday night and I have to ask – am I the only person who is starting to get tired of the whole 24/7 thing? I feel like after seeing Fight Camp 360 that HBO needs to do something to freshen up the series. I feel like every scene is something that I've seen in a previous episode of the show. I still think the show is fantastic, and I am still going to watch every episode – but I just wish there was something more. I think a better documentary style show would be following the fighters after the fight. I mean we always see fighters leading into a fight, but nobody ever sees how these fighters deal with defeat, or handle winning – wouldn't that make an interesting show? Of everything we saw on 24/7 I was most amazed that Manny Pacquiao can't swim. I have no idea why that shocks me, it's probably because I grew up on a lake and swimming seems like something I've been able to do since birth, but I always assumed that people from island nations came out of the womb with flippers on.

- Anyone who missed Friday night's ShoBox card missed Victor Fonseca use some of the dirtiest tactics in the book to not only beat Al Seeger, but potentially end his career, and almost his life. Throughout the fight Fonseca was rabbit punching, and doing a textbook job of dirty boxing Seeger which the official let go because – well the only reason I can think of is that the fight was in Texas, Fonseca was the local fighter and the official did not want to deduct points (or disqualify Fonseca) so he let Victor do whatever he wanted. Well after the fight Seeger, who was battered and bloodied from headbutts, elbows, rabbit punches and a whole host of other dirty tactics was hospitalized. Seeger was sent to intensive care in San Antonio for two days where he underwent all types of testing. It was reported that Seeger suffered a fracture on his forehead that required a metal plate be inserted above his nose between his eyebrows. I'm not sure how many of these stories you have to hear out of Texas before fighters stop going there but the Commission in Texas needs to step up to the plate and clean up boxing in that state. It's either official's misconduct or official's no conduct after every fight and this time it could have cost Seeger his life. I'm not sure how many more stories like this we'll have to hear before fighters stop taking a couple extra bucks to put their life on the line and fight in Texas.

- Quick tangent but I caught ESPN's documentary series "30 for 30" this past week and the subject matter was the 1980 bout between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes. I don't want to get too in depth because I have to go back and re-watch the hour long special, but it was absolutely the best television program I've ever seen. Just the old footage and the interviews from both Holmes and Ali in 1980 are worth the time investment. Seeing Ali though as he prepared for the fight made me very sad that the event ever happened. One great part of the episode though was Larry Holmes in 1980 using a car telephone, not a portable phone mind you but a full telephone in his career – fantastic. If you have a chance you MUST check out that documentary it was called "Muhammad and Holmes" and was the best hour I've spent in front of a TV since the Celtics won the NBA championship.

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The Way I See The Week Ahead

Saturday October 31, 2009
TV: Showtime (TV PICK OF THE WEEK)
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Title: IBF bantamweight title
- Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko (27-1, 22 KO's) v. Yonnhy Perez (19-0, 14 KO's)

I'm pretty excited for this fight I have to admit. Agbeko has to deal with something in this fight that he never had to deal with before – namely he has to deal with being a known commodity. His fight with Vic Darchinyan was supposed to be Vic's triumphant coming out party – but instead it was Agbeko's moment in the sun. I thought Agbeko fought a very good fight against Darchinyan and he's now going to have a lot of eyeballs on him as he attempts to make another defense of his IBF bantamweight title against undefeated Yonnhy Perez. I'd absolutely being watching this fight and giving a report on it if I wasn't going to be at Mohegan Sun for the Joey Spina-Lou Del Valle fight this Saturday night but at the very least this card should be better then the crap ShoBox card Showtime had last weekend.