"Any one of those guys out there -- Maidana, Bradley, Alexander. I feel like Amir Khan could beat...

It's funny that Roach and Khan keep on saying this

but they keep chasing lightweight like Marquez and to a lesser extent, Katsidis around. In every interview I’ve seen Khan seems to be trying to justify why Marquez is a better choice for an opponent than Bradley, Alexander, and Maidana. I mean if he’s not fighting Bradley or Alexander, that’s one thing, but he has a mandatory who will be ready by December and yet he’s intent on fighting a rapidly aging lightweight.

"Dawson was NOT a hype job. Dude schooled Adamek, beat Tarver twice (neither competitive), beat Johnson twice (once close, once a wipeout) and even beat Harding when Harding was still good. That is not hype. Those are results. [b]I love how people see a guy lose once and all of a sudden nothing they ever did means anything. You are dead wrong.[/b]"
- Dan Rafael

by KidGre on Aug 17, 2010 4:49 PM EDT reply actions

The money is on and is in fighting Marquez for sure, which is sad. I just can’t take that fight seriously. I also can’t take seriously the company line that they’re also considering Maidana and Victor Ortiz.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Aug 17, 2010 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Pathetic

Since Bradley and Alexander talks are wrapping up, Khan is clearly going after Maidana next, right Freddie? Or you could just fight another guy tailor-made for Khan, protecting his chin, and tell us that Khan is greatest thing since sliced bread.

by Waldo Rastel on Aug 17, 2010 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah for all the wonder we here about the joke coach Roach

He certainly hasn’t done a whole lot with his fighters in terms of proving them recently. When Pac beats Margarito I don’t know if I’ll care even a little bit as its unclear to me if Margarito was ever any good without wraps. Martroiaon has beaten no one (Joe Greene isn’t very impressive, he probably lost to Ouma) and Khan has been extremely protected (not that he hasn’t clearly improved) and Chavez Jr has beaten people who can’t fight. I feel like we’re getting way more hype then product from Roach at this point.

by journeyintosound on Aug 17, 2010 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions

I think he’s obviously an excellent trainer. The improvements he’s made over time for Manny are amazing, and he’s getting the most out of Khan, and he got Chavez to show improvement for the first time in a LONG time.

But he’s also an excellent spin guy, and his most overlooked strength, IMO, is something I’ve mentioned in passing here before. That is the fact that HE talks so his fighters don’t really have to. The press goes to him. Khan talks some, but mostly in soundbytes. This is something Ozzie Guillen has done for years managing the White Sox. Ozzie talks so much that the media goes right to him and the players are more free to just focus on the playing baseball part of their lives. Roach has done well with that, too. He talks so everyone interviews Freddie Roach.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Aug 17, 2010 6:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I want to know what Roach has in store for Shaq-Mosley II.

by tkeithwhite on Aug 17, 2010 5:26 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

It's great to see that I'm not discussing boxing with a bunch of blind Pacquiao fans

I mean I like Pacquiao a lot, easily the most exciting fighter in the sport now, but Arum is clearly trying to keep all his fights in-house. Roach clearly is picking and choosing opponents, and I hope one of these selections Roach chooses just backfires on him, I’m think Cotto-Chavez Jr. will likely be the first. All you have to see is when he talks about a Pacquiao-Mosley fight, and he says, Mosley would have to weigh in at 143 cause Mosley is too big and too good. I’m no big fan of Max Kellerman, but he had a point at the ending comments of the Maidana-Cayo fight when he said that Roach is notorious for finding the easiest opponent possible. Roach is talking way too big, actions speak louder than words, hence Khan should just fight his mandatory.

"Dawson was NOT a hype job. Dude schooled Adamek, beat Tarver twice (neither competitive), beat Johnson twice (once close, once a wipeout) and even beat Harding when Harding was still good. That is not hype. Those are results. [b]I love how people see a guy lose once and all of a sudden nothing they ever did means anything. You are dead wrong.[/b]"
- Dan Rafael

by KidGre on Aug 17, 2010 6:42 PM EDT reply actions

You can't really say that he is hand picking their opponents to protect them all....

When he has Chavez Jr fighting Miguel Angel Cotto and Pacquiao fighting Antonio Margarito. Nor can you so easily dismiss a crafty veteran like Marquez.

Chavez Jr. is far enough along that his handlers have little choice but to match him with superior fighters, lest he lose any remaining credibility. He is still a young man but he has fought over forty times professionally. I would venture to say that most observers believe that putting him in with Cotto now may be a terrible decision; suicide some might say.

Say what you will but Margarito was the terror of the division at one time. Most fighters avoided him. Top Rank could not…and did not. They matched him in house with their own home grown real star, Cotto….and lost. I can assure you that most executives at Top Rank never believed Cotto would get beaten. But he did.

Margarito is one loss and one beating (Cotto) away from his reign of terror …. and he is a monster sized welterweight. Maybe he’s shot…but what if he’s not….!!! I see this as a risk that Roach and Manny did not have to take. And a big one.

As for Khan, bring him along. If he beats Marquez (for real money) the others will wait. He is freakishly large at 140 so I can assure you….were it not for the money…. they aren’t as anxious to get in the ring with him as they say

You have to remember these are prize-fighters. They have two mandates. One, build as a big an audience as possible. Two, capitalize on it for as long as possible.

I think that’s what is happening

by pakinpower on Aug 17, 2010 9:01 PM EDT reply actions

Say what you will but Margarito was the terror of the division at one time. Most fighters avoided him.

Who? Cotto fought him, Clottey fought him, Cintron fought him twice, Williams beat him, Mosley beat the crap out of him. There’s Mayweather. It wasn’t "most" of the top fighters. It was just Mayweather, whose relationship with Arum was/is so awful that it’s not like that didn’t play a part in that fight not happening. Margarito’s "avoided terror" thing was as much marketing as any other "nobody wants to fight me" campaign that a million fighters have launched over the years. I’m not disrespecting what Margarito did, because he was a handful and a half at his best, but the only guy who didn’t fight him was Floyd. Floyd didn’t fight any Top Rank guys. Floyd hasn’t fought any Top Rank guys since splitting with Arum. There’s more to that than Margarito being so terrifying.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Aug 17, 2010 9:20 PM EDT up reply actions

And, I should add, during the time when Margarito and Arum were really angling that “most feared fighter” stuff, nobody from Top Rank was fighting anybody from Golden Boy, and vice versa. They weren’t working together until Pacquiao-Barrera II in October 2007, three months after Margarito was beaten by Williams.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Aug 17, 2010 9:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Khan is the most skilled boxer, but his chin is the great equalizer. He can be dominating for 12 round but all it takes is one punch and his night is over.

by uGotKTFO on Aug 17, 2010 9:33 PM EDT reply actions

There will only be one way to find out.

But I agree.

by pakinpower on Aug 17, 2010 9:34 PM EDT up reply actions

It’s funny in a way. It’s like he’s precisely the bizarro version of the “crude fighter who always has a puncher’s chance” that you see from time to time.

If Khan only had an average chin, I’d agree that he’d handle either Bradley or Alexander and it might not even be close. But Khan doesn’t have an average chin.

by taco pal on Aug 18, 2010 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions

All true.

By saying “most fighters” I meant Floyd…but I was trying to give him cover.

BTW, he retired without taking huge re-match money from the Golden Boy himself….so His problem wasn’t just Arum.

by pakinpower on Aug 17, 2010 9:34 PM EDT reply actions

Well Floyd does love to retire. Retired after Baldomir, after Oscar, after Hatton. I keep waiting for his latest retirement. I’m banking on February 8, 2011 for that announcement.

Honestly he didn’t fight Margarito for a few reasons. One is that dealing with Arum wasn’t easy, another is that Carlos Baldomir was easier and the legit champion, and another is that he got just as much to fight Baldomir as the offer that Top Rank was crowing about Floyd ducking. I mean, I do think he should have fought Margarito. For one thing I have no doubt he’d have routed him and shut up a lot of people. But Floyd also loves (well loved) those green WBC belts as much as he loves retiring, and that’s the one Baldomir had in addition to the Ring belt.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Aug 18, 2010 12:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Absolutely true. All of it.

What mystifies me is the disconnect between his sense of himself and the reality.

I have honestly come to believe that the pattern is the fact; that he simply does not want to lose. And that….at this point…. anyone who even appears to be a real challenge to his ‘O’ can no longer be considered.

Sad really. He could’a been a contender.

by pakinpower on Aug 18, 2010 3:31 AM EDT reply actions