3-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach talked with Chris Strait at Convicted Artist, as he readies his fighters for the upcoming challenges. Despite a roller coaster year that saw many of his fighters on the short end of big fights, after a great multi-year run of success, Roach is continuing on the path of hard work, and developing fighters.
CA: Freddie, how many fighters do you have on the Florentine Gardens card next Thursday?
FR: Well, it is just Liam (Vaughan) now… Zach (Wohlman) was gonna be on the card, but he has a fractured jaw.
CA: Who are some of the other trainers working at Wild Card we may not know about? We obviously know about Eric Brown.
FR: Well we finally got Marvin Somodio over from the Phillipines. We’d been trying to get him here for 3 years, but I finally went there, and hid him in my bag, and got him over here.
CA: (laughs) Visa’s take that long there?
FR: Yes, not the easiest thing to get. But he’s here now, he’s a great trainer, and he's working with Brian Viloria.
CA: When are we gonna get Viloria back on regular networks? He’s having fight of the year candidates, and never fighting in the U.S. or on major networks.
FR: Well, the Macau card is gonna be on HBO2.
CA: Yes, a step in the right direction. So, talk to me about Liam. How did you find him?
FR: Well, he came to us from Liverpool, England. We see a lot of prospects, but he was one we liked. He works hard, he's progressing... getting better and better all the time.
CA: What changes have you made to him, if any?
FR: Well, we’re just trying to get him to use his speed. Sometimes he’s likes to trade too much, and we’re reminding him to fight smarter, and use his skill and speed.
CA: Speaking of trading punches, your fighter Ruslan Provodnikov has a big assignment against Timothy Bradley. How long have you been training him?
FR: I’d been with him for his last 3 fights, but was unable to work the corner, because of other commitments... but I’ll be in the corner this time.
CA: How do you prepare for a style like Bradley, and for that head?
FR: Well, we hope he ducks his head right into our punches. I mean, he says he’s gonna box, or whatever, but I think some point he’s gonna try to trade… and when it comes to that, my guy has power, and he doesn’t.
CA: After an unprecedented run for a trainer, you definitely had a rough year in 2012. Does that affect how you do anything moving forward?
FR: Not really. I always do the best I can. There always has to be a winner and a loser, and sometimes you lose. As Manny Pacquiao put it, 'your job is to get me ready, and my job is to win the fight.' Some people want to criticize me (recently Joel Diaz, trainer of Timothy Bradley, did so publicly), but they don’t know me, and I’m in here every day, working my hardest, and doing the best I can. Regardless, if you fight one of our fighters, you're gonna know you’re in a fight.
Chris Strait
www.convictedartist.com
