Honored as a four-time Trainer of the Year, Freddie Roach is no doubt among the sport's premiere corner men.
On Monday, the 50-year-old proprietor of the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif., trained Ukrainian-born WBA welterweight (147 pounds) champ Vyacheslav Senchenko (31-0, 20 knockouts) for his unanimous decision victory over Venezuela's Charlie Jose Navarro (18-4, 13 KOs).
Roach also trains WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) king Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs), of England, unbeaten junior middleweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan (28-0, 17 KOs), middleweight (160 pounds) fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KOs), and, last, but not least, Filipino super star, seven-division king, and WBO welterweight (147 pounds) titlist
Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs).
But when the 31-year-old Pacquiao pursues a record eighth crown on Nov. 13 at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium against ex-champ, Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 knockouts) for the WBC's vacant junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt, Roach will be facing a youthful trainer who has bested him twice in the ring.
A 35-year-old former IBF super featherweight (130 pounds) champion who compiled a record of 35-3, with 25 knockouts, Robert Garcia will be calling the shots for the 32-year-old Margarito.
Garcia was also the chief second when former featherweight (126 pounds) titlist Steven Luevano and Margarito, respectively, were victorious over the Roach-coached Bernabe Concepcion, and, Roberto Garcia by disqualification and unanimous decision.
"Margarito's last fight with Roberto Garcia, I know that Freddie Roach was not in his corner the night of the fight," said Garcia, who scored a fourth-round knockout of John Trigg in his last professional bout in September of 2001. "But every time that there was a press conference for that fight, Freddie Roach was announced as his trainer."
Garcia has worked rising rising WBA interim super flyweight (115 pounds) champion Nonito Donaire, former light flyweight
(108 pounds) king Brian Viloria, junior welterweight prospect Brandon Rios, and his brother, unbeaten featherweight (126 pounds) contender Miguel "Mikey" Garcia.
"It's going to be an honor to go up against Freddie again on Nov. 13. I know that it's not only a challenge for the fighters, but also, a challenge for me as a trainer because I want to prove myself," said Garcia. "I want to prove to the world that I'm a good trainer. So, Freddie Roach is one of the best trainers out there. My chance is also the same way as the fighters. I'm challenging myself to do a good job."
On Sept. 15, Roach leaves for the Philippines, where he will begin training Pacquiao, who will be fighting at the Cowboys Stadium for the second straight time. In March, Pacquiao drew more than 50,000 fans to the stadium for his 12-round, unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey.
On Tuesday, Pacquiao and Margarito were together in Los Angeles during their first press conference as part of a three-city promotional tour. On Wednesday, the fighters will be in New York, and on Friday, in Dallas.
During Tuesday's post-conference staredown, the 5-foot-11 Margarito stood nearly a full head taller than the nearly 5-7 Pacquiao.
"Antonio looked very big against Manny today. But the first thing that I do when I haven't seen my fighters in a long time or in a couple of weeks is I check them out. And Antonio's stomach was flat, and he has a six-pack already. You can see it through his shirt and everything," said Garcia.
"So he's been running. So he's stayed in the gym. And when we start camp in the next week or so, we will just be prepared to fight with a good game plan against Manny Pacquiao," said Garcia. "We'll be preparing for the remainder of the time between now and the fight, and I know that we'll be ready."
Source: http://boxing.fanhouse.com
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