MANILA, Philippines - Renowned trainer Freddie Roach wouldn’t admit it but the scuttlebutt is he earned over $1 million to work Manny Pacquiao’s corner against Antonio Margarito at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, last Saturday night (yesterday morning, Manila).
Roach, 50, has come a long way from struggling as a fringe featherweight contender during a ring career that began in 1978 and ended in 1986. He compiled a 40-13 record, with 15 KOs, and was once ranked sixth in the world. His biggest paycheck as a prizefighter was $13,000 for a bout against Hector (Macho) Camacho in 1985.
Like Pacquiao, Roach comes from humble beginnings. He grew up in a public housing project in Dedham, Massachusetts, referred to as “part of the Irish South Boston cauldron of blue collar misery.” His father Paul was a former fighter who made a living as a tree surgeon and died of a heart attack in 1997 – four years before Pacquiao walked into the Wild Card Gym looking for a trainer. Roach and his four brothers turned to boxing as a way out of poverty.
It was Roach’s father who introduced him to boxing. Roach logged 115 amateur bouts then turned pro with the venerable Eddie Futch as his trainer. Nicknamed the “Choir Boy,” Roach went on to face fighters like Bobby Chacon, Greg Haugen, Camacho and Darryl Tyson. He lacked power, unlike Pacquiao, but was all heart, like Pacquiao.
“Freddie...couldn’t punch hard enough to convincingly nail down a decision, so many of his fights were down-to-the-wire decisions,” said Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler. “But he was a typical, tough, hard-nosed New England guy. He was burning with ambition and never took a backward step.”
When he hung up his gloves, Roach apprenticed under Futch. He tried other lines of work, like parking cards and selling coffee mugs and key tags as a telemarketer. But boxing was in his blood. Today, Roach has worked with over 25 world champions, including Mike Tyson, Oscar de la Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Marlon Starling, Virgil Hill, James Toney, Israel Vazquez and Amir Khan. His demeanor as a cornerman is a take-off from Futch who was always calm in speaking to his fighters in between rounds.
“So much of Eddie rubbed off on me,” said Roach, quoted by Robert Mladinich in KO Magazine. “I don’t like a loud corner or a lot of hype. Neither did he. He gave simple directions, always stayed calm and only allowed one person to talk in the corner. So do I.” In Pacquiao’s corner, Roach allows an exception in Buboy Fernandez – as a translator.
Afflicted with Parkinson’s disease for over 20 years, Roach said he still considers himself lucky. “I had a good (boxing) career and am now doing something I love,” he continued. “Most of the people I grew up with are either dead or in jail so I consider myself lucky.”
Living with pugilistic Parkinsonism isn’t easy. Sports Illustrated writer Pablo Torre said tremors wake up Roach every day at 6 a.m. He drags his left foot, endures arthritis in both elbows and experiences muscle contractions in the neck. “Every three months, he is injected with Botox to treat the dystonia,” said Torre. “It causes Roach’s neck to jerk backward and to his right, as if someone were pulling on his hair.”
Roach donates to the Michael J. Fox Foundation which finances research studies to combat the Parkinson’s syndrome and shares his blessings with those he loves. He recently moved his mother Barbara out of the Las Vegas home he had bought for her. His mother now lives beside Roach in the duplex he owns in Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Roach also bought a house for his brother Pepper in the Valley.
Marriage once crossed Roach’s mind in 2001 when he was engaged to former Olympic triple jumper Sheila Hudson, an architect. But the wedding never took place. Roach is rumored to often go out on dates with attractive women. “My mother doesn’t think I should get married,” he said. “Besides, 90 percent of marriages in the US end up in divorce.”
Despite his affliction, Roach said he’s got the best life in the world. “I don’t want sympathy, I love my job,” said Roach who works at the Wild Card Gym from eight to eight on weekdays and nine to four on Saturdays.
The video showing Margarito and stablemate Brandon Rios mocking Roach by mimicking his Parkinson’s symptoms left a bad taste in the mouth. It showed the fighters’ lack of class. Someone tried to justify the “joke” by explaining the clown act was to get back at Roach for wearing iron gloves – from the medieval knighthood era – in an obvious strike at Margarito for the infamous hand-wraps incident during a media appearance. Poking fun at a person’s infirmity isn’t only crass but also inhuman.
No question, Pacquiao was the key to turning Roach’s career around. “Manny changed my life,” he said. “I never imagined, nearly 10 years ago when Manny walked into the Wild Card Gym, we would be where we are today.”
Roach is a symbol of a survivor whose life is an inspiration, a provider of hope and a source of encouragement for the severely impaired. Wherever he goes, Roach is mobbed by fans and admirers. So what if he slurs sometimes? So what if he mumbles? He’s still a hero to millions.
“I honestly think I’m more popular than Manny now in the Philippines,” he chuckled. “That’s because Manny is too busy attending to so many things and isn’t as accessible to the public anymore. When I go to a mall in the Philippines, once I look up at someone and there is eye contact, I’m asked for a photograph or an autograph and almost immediately, it’s about a half an hour of interacting with fans. I love it but I never get a chance to go around a mall. I basically walk around alone, go to Starbucks or stay in a hotel lobby so people come to me.”
Pacquiao is in the record books as the only fighter ever to capture eight world titles in eight weight divisions. Roach was in his corner for seven of those eight championships. Their partnership has become as legendary as the combinations of Muhammad Ali and Angelo Dundee, Floyd Patterson and Cus D’Amato, Joe Frazier and Futch and Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Goody Petronelli. It’s a partnership that will inevitably take both Pacquiao and Roach to the Boxing Hall of Fame.