Roach quits as Manny Pacquiao's trainer
Posted: 01 Jan 2004, 10:33
The man widely credited for Manny Pacquiao's new-found success will no longer be in his corner.
Trainer of the Year candidate Freddie Roach announced in an interview with boxing website Boxingtalk.com he is quitting as Manny Pacquiao's trainer following the Filipino camp's decision to stick it out with US agent Murad Muhammad for one more year.
Roach told Boxingtalk's Greg Leon he would no longer be training Pacquiao if the latter continued to allow himself to be robbed blind.
Roach revealed that Pacquiao had already approached him for help after the Filipino saw that his purse was 700,000 dollars and not 350,000 dollars when he signed the contract after the weigh-in right before the fight with Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera last November.
"He asked me if I would be his manager and take care of his business for him to make sure they don't steal his money from him. I did all of that, I wasn't getting paid to do it and I wasn't asking for anything," Roach said.
He added: "I just wanted to see this kid have a good life and end up wealthy. I don't want to see him broke. With these people stealing the money that they're stealing....I mean, they're not just taking a little bit of money, they're taking a big chunk of it."
Roach said Pacquiao should not have agreed to challenge Juan Manuel Marquez, the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight champion, sometime in March next year, for a purse of only one million dollars.
"That fight's worth much more than one million dollars," Roach said.
"It's going to be the toughest fight out there for him style-wise. The guy is fighting another featherweight champion. But Manny is the one everybody knows, so why fight Marquez when he could fight anybody out there? He could get 1.5 million dollars to fight Paulie Ayala or Johnny Tapia, but instead they chose to fight Marquez for a million. To me there's something fishy about that," he explained.
Roach also expressed disappointment over the manner he had been compensated in Pacquiao's four fights in the United States. The renowned trainer revealed that for the Barrera fight, he only got 25,000 dollars and 6,000 dollars for the Lucero fight.
"So it's not just Manny they're stealing from. They're stealing from me and anybody else who gets a percentage," Roach said.
"Now (Pacquiao business manager Rod) Nazario tells me Manny made 500,000 dollars instead of the 300,000 dollars. So, I'm asking him, if that's the case why didn't I receive 50,000 dollars? Where's my other 25,000 dollars? And I told Mr. Nazario that I couldn't be with you guys anymore, because somebody is stealing all of the money and nobody's being honest about where the money is going," he added.
Pacquiao's actual purse of 700,000 dollars in his fight against Barrera was inadvertently divulged by two HBO announcers during the fight. Nazario later admitted the amount was correct, but said half of it was spent for Pacquiao's training expenses.
Roach suspects that someone is trying to keep Pacquiao silent in the wake of these manipulations.
"Manny is being pressured to keep everything smooth. They called me today and told me they don't want to break the team up. And right now when they're stealing money from Manny, they're stealing money from me," Roach added.
Trainer of the Year candidate Freddie Roach announced in an interview with boxing website Boxingtalk.com he is quitting as Manny Pacquiao's trainer following the Filipino camp's decision to stick it out with US agent Murad Muhammad for one more year.
Roach told Boxingtalk's Greg Leon he would no longer be training Pacquiao if the latter continued to allow himself to be robbed blind.
Roach revealed that Pacquiao had already approached him for help after the Filipino saw that his purse was 700,000 dollars and not 350,000 dollars when he signed the contract after the weigh-in right before the fight with Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera last November.
"He asked me if I would be his manager and take care of his business for him to make sure they don't steal his money from him. I did all of that, I wasn't getting paid to do it and I wasn't asking for anything," Roach said.
He added: "I just wanted to see this kid have a good life and end up wealthy. I don't want to see him broke. With these people stealing the money that they're stealing....I mean, they're not just taking a little bit of money, they're taking a big chunk of it."
Roach said Pacquiao should not have agreed to challenge Juan Manuel Marquez, the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight champion, sometime in March next year, for a purse of only one million dollars.
"That fight's worth much more than one million dollars," Roach said.
"It's going to be the toughest fight out there for him style-wise. The guy is fighting another featherweight champion. But Manny is the one everybody knows, so why fight Marquez when he could fight anybody out there? He could get 1.5 million dollars to fight Paulie Ayala or Johnny Tapia, but instead they chose to fight Marquez for a million. To me there's something fishy about that," he explained.
Roach also expressed disappointment over the manner he had been compensated in Pacquiao's four fights in the United States. The renowned trainer revealed that for the Barrera fight, he only got 25,000 dollars and 6,000 dollars for the Lucero fight.
"So it's not just Manny they're stealing from. They're stealing from me and anybody else who gets a percentage," Roach said.
"Now (Pacquiao business manager Rod) Nazario tells me Manny made 500,000 dollars instead of the 300,000 dollars. So, I'm asking him, if that's the case why didn't I receive 50,000 dollars? Where's my other 25,000 dollars? And I told Mr. Nazario that I couldn't be with you guys anymore, because somebody is stealing all of the money and nobody's being honest about where the money is going," he added.
Pacquiao's actual purse of 700,000 dollars in his fight against Barrera was inadvertently divulged by two HBO announcers during the fight. Nazario later admitted the amount was correct, but said half of it was spent for Pacquiao's training expenses.
Roach suspects that someone is trying to keep Pacquiao silent in the wake of these manipulations.
"Manny is being pressured to keep everything smooth. They called me today and told me they don't want to break the team up. And right now when they're stealing money from Manny, they're stealing money from me," Roach added.