Apr

22

Freddie Roach Interview

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Rob Garcia (ph), who has been Oscar De La Hoya’s strength and conditioning coach for many of his fights going back I believe to 2001, and Freddie Roach, two-time trainer of the year. They are joining us from Puerto Rico. Rob, if maybe you want to make some — give some comments first and then we’ll turn it over to Freddie..

ROBERT GARCIA : OK. As far as camp is going, we are probably ahead of schedule as far as comparing this camp opposed to the preparation from previous camps. Oscar is on weight as we speak and eating healthy, training hard. There has been no injuries so to speak of this camp.

He’s moving around quite well and the level of sparring is probably higher than it’s been with having guys like Shane Moseley around and him really being able to push Oscar. I’ve never seen him this focused. I think there was a big mistake for Mayweather to motivate him in this way, but that being said, I mean, that was putting the ball in our court and brought the advantage to us.

So we’ve been taking advantage of that motivation and we’ve been hard at work every day from 5:30 in the morning to 10:00 at night, you know, making this all happen to put out the best fight that we can possibly put, and I’m sure there’s going to be — sparks will be flying and it will be an electric night.

RICHARD SCHAEFER : Great. Freddie, if you would like to make some comments, please?

FREDDIE ROACH, TRAINER FOR DE LA HOYA : Well, this is my first time working with Oscar and it’s been a pleasure. I’m really happy that he chose me. His work ethnic is unbelievable. He’s trained really hard.

I was a little leery about it at first because he was a little bit older and so forth and a little bit, very successful and I thought his work ethnic might not be as good as it is, but it’s great. Everything I ask him to do, he does, and we’re working really hard with great sparring partners. And I can’t wait until May 5th .

OPERATOR: Thank you. Our first question comes from Tom Stewart of the Bangor Daily News.

TOM STEWART : OK. This question is for Freddie. And Freddie, I just want to know what has surprised you the most about working with Oscar?

FREDDIE ROACH: I guess his determination, his work ethnic, because I’m used to working with guys like him and so forth, and you know, Oscar is always ready to train. But I wasn’t sure how dedicated he was, but I was really surprised and happy that he’s so dedicated and trains really hard.

And you know, no matter what task we tell him is in order for that day, he does it and we have a very good response. I’m really happy where we’re at right now.

TOM STEWART: All right, great. And just one other follow-up question, how would you compare Oscar’s punching power to other fighters that you’ve worked with?

FREDDIE ROACH : He’s a very good puncher, has a great left hook, he has the right hand and its getting better and better. He just needs a little more confidence in it and, you know, I’ve worked with a lot of fighters and so forth and he has good speed also. So you know, he can knock out with one punch, but you know, he’ll come with the combinations and he’s got very good power.

ROBERT MORALES: Oh, good, good. You know, Roger was just talking about, you know, that Oscar’s size really isn’t going to help him in this fight, that it’s all about skill and he started pointing out guys, you know, guys like Henry Armstrong and what Ali did to Foreman and Leonard and Hagler and that kind of thing.

What do you think about that assessment? I mean, to me, it seems like Oscar’s definitely best chance is to lend that left hook and that’s really his only chance of winning. What do you think?

FREDDIE ROCHE: Well, I agree. I think we’ll use that size and strength, but you know, he also has great boxing ability also. I mean, it’s not like, you know, Oscar is just a pure puncher.

But in this fight though, we’re going to be a little more physical, but you know, he’s a very good boxer and he’ll set it up in those — he’ll do it intelligently.

TRAE THOMPSON: Fredy, I was just going to ask you, is there anything Oscar especially really likes working with you on while he’s training?

FREDDIE ROACH: You know, we worked together on the media tour and clicked right away. We have had very good work and I think that’s our favorite thing to do together is strategy because of what Floyd might do and taking advantage of his mistakes and so forth.

And we really work well together. We did 10 rounds yesterday and it’s going really well.

TRAE THOMPSON : Is that something where it doesn’t take long for him to kind of flip the switch when he comes in for training or does he just kind of rev up throughout the day as you all keep going?

FREDDIE ROACH: Well, we run at 5:30 in the morning. We’re on the road by 6:00 and then we have some down time and then by gym time, he’s, we’re ready to go.

And you know, the intensity on the training is just great and, you know, every combination, we break it down on why we’re doing it, you know, or the reason why and when we can use it and when we can’t use it.

And he didn’t really have that kind of communication before he told me, and it’s working out real well because every punch has a purpose and there’s a purpose behind every punch.

DAN RAFAEL: Freddie, can you just give me your assessment of what it’s been like to see Oscar sparring with Shane? What’s that been like?

FREDDIE ROACH: Shane can emulate Floyd a little bit and he actually has the speed, maybe even a little quicker, but the work has been great between the two. It’s been our best work yet and I’d like to thank Shane. You know, I can’t call him a sparring partner of course because he’s a great fighter, but the work has really helped with us.

DAN RAFAEL: Fredy, how many rounds would you estimate they have sparred together for this fight?

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