Roach, 41, was a junior Olympic boxer at the age of eight. Late father Paul was a New England featherweight champion in the 1940s and was his first teacher. Two of his four brothers were boxers, too. In 1978, Roach turned pro and earned $90 in his six-round debut. While moving up the boxing ladder, he picked up extra money as a busboy. Hard work was always a Roach trademark. Eventually, Roach — whose trainer was Eddie Futch — signed a contract to fight for promoter Bob Arum.
Roach was such a battler that Alexis Arguello often sought him out as a sparmate.
After compiling a 47-13 record, Roach retired to work as Futch’s chief assistant. Then, actor Mickey Rourke opened a gym — called "The Outlaw" — in Los Angeles and hired Roach to manage it. Later, Roach decided to strike it out on his own, built a gym in Hollywood, and called it "The Wild Card."
As a trainer, Roach has worked with over 10 world champions, including Virgil Hill, Marlon Starling, Michael Moorer, and James Toney. In the corner, he likes to operate with his buddy and cutman Ruben Gomez — who has been in the fight business for over 20 years, touring the world with titlists like Juan Martin Coggi, Leo Gamez, Julio Cesar Vasquez, and Rosendo Alvarez. Gomez was in Rolando Pascua’s corner in 1990 when the Filipino stopped Humberto Gonzalez for the world flyweight crown in Inglewood.
Roach’s gym — open daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. — isn’t just for fighters. Celebrities like Mia Sorvino, Cuba Gooding, John Travolta, Wesley Snipes, Christian Slater, and Denzel Washington work out in his facility.
One of seven children, Roach keeps in close contact with his family. Mother Barbara, a former boxing judge, lives in his home here. Brothers Pepper and Joey, former pros, share his interest in boxing. Two other brothers are Al and Paul. He has two sisters.
A bachelor, Roach is dating two-time Olympic triple jumper Sheila Hudson, 33. They met when Sheila, a reporter for the Sacramento Bee newspaper, interviewed him for an article six months ago. Roach’s story was the subject of a recent inspirational TV documentary and producers are toying with the idea of tapping Mark Walberg of "Three Kings" fame to play him in a future movie.
It was Manny Pacquiao’s business manager Rod Nazario who brought the International Boxing Federation superbantamweight titlist to Roach last June 3.
"My first goal in bringing Manny to the US was to find a trainer whom he will respect and who will make him a better fighter," said Nazario. "My secondary goal was to get a fight."
Pacquiao and Roach hit it off. After their first session, Pacquiao knew he would learn a lot from Roach. And Roach was impressed by Pacquiao’s determination, discipline, work ethic, willingness to learn, speed, and power. Within 2 1/2 weeks, Roach turned Pacquiao into a polished fighting machine and taught him the finer points of defense.
Roach said he’s looking forward to a long relationship with Pacquiao whom he added is gifted with in-born boxing talent and awesome power. "Willie Jorrin — the World Boxing Council champion — doesn’t stand a chance against Manny," noted Roach. "And Manny hits 100 times harder than Johnny Tapia. Marco Antonio Barrera? He fights like Lehlo Ledwaba. Manny will need to fight almost a perfect fight to beat Barrera but he can do it. He did it against Ledwaba."
Nazario said he plans to invite Roach and Gomez to Manila to conduct boxing clinics so they can share their expertise with Filipino practitioners.