MACAU – Freddie Roach admits he rarely asks a favor from the generous Manny Pacquiao.
But he’s making an exception in the fight against Brandon Rios.
Saying he felt ridiculed and violated in a bust-up
against the group of Rios on Wednesday, the Hall of Fame trainer said he
has asked the Filipino ring hero to do something for him come fight
time on Sunday.
Asked what favor he wants from Pacquiao, the five-time Trainer of the Year quickly responded: “I want a knockout. And Manny knows that already!”
It will be recalled that during the run-up to the Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight in 2010, Rios tried to mimic Roach’s slurred speech in a video that went viral. Rios later issued an apology, saying he didn’t know that Roach is afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease.
And just last Wednesday, former Roach assistant and now Team Rios conditioning
coach Alex Ariza not only made fun of Roach’s health condition but he
also kicked him on the chest after a heated verbal altercation with
trainer Robert Garcia.
Roach stood firm in defending himself against claims
made by Team Rios that he started the melee by getting “too arrogant”
when he asked the group the leave the makeshift gym they shared at The Venetian hotel.
“To be honest with you, I just wished it never
happened,” Roach said. “But I think I was set up, they’re on my time and
they know I was going to ask them to leave. And they told me they’re
not leaving. And some words were spoken, in which order I am not sure.
“I thought they were just disrespecting Manny by
being on his time (in the gym). If they had come to me and asked me,
‘Freddie, we need an extra half an hour because we’re tied up with some
press thing or whatever,’ of course I would have said yes,” he added.
Asked if he will also issue an aplogy like what Ariza did, Roach was defiant.
“I have nothing to apologize (for)… I’m the one who
got kicked like a girl,” he said, while apologizing to the girls among
the press people gathered around him who he said “kicked harder than
Ariza.”