Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
It was reported that (Julio Cesar Chavez) Jr is not with you for this fight. You're smirking, so my natural question is what happened, and did you guys talk about that?
Freddie Roach
He called me and apologized for flaking off in the last fight, and I said OK. I loved working with the kid. We had three very good fights together and very good results. We had something together. I think those three fights I had working with him were maybe the three best fights of his life, and the hardest fights of his life also. He wanted me to go to Mexico, because the fight was (set for) Mexico for a time before it moved to Staples Center. I said you come here for four weeks, then we'll go to Mexico for two weeks before the fight. We worked on that and he said OK, and then he never showed up. I never heard from him again. I'm like you, people read it to me on the internet. I'm hired one day and fired the next day.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
So that's how you found out, you didn't even know that?
Freddie Roach
I found out when you just told me.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
Oh, wow.
Freddie Roach
Seeing that he didn't show up, I'm just like, eh, I don't think it's really going to happen. I like the kid a lot, I think he's a great kid, I think he has a lot of potential. I think if he'd trained for the (Sergio) Martinez fight, he'd still be champion. But the thing is, he didn't want to train for that fight. I don't know what got in his head, you know? It was, like, from one extreme to another. Like, from the best guy to the worst guy. It was just so hard. And I would have walked out of that camp long before the fight if it wasn't for his dad. I like his dad and his dad begged me to say and help his kid. I said I can only help the kid if he comes to the gym.
So, I wish him the best. He's a good guy. He's using Alex Ariza as his coach. I hope he's not using him as his boxing coach, because he don't know what the fuck boxing is.
Marcos Villegas, Fight Hub TV
He last fought Martinez, a lot of people are saying Martinez is kind of on the slope seeing the guys that he's fought after Chavez's last fight, he didn't look too good. Do you feel Martinez is on the down slope now, or do you think Chavez caused that?
Freddie Roach
Maybe, but you look at the Chavez fight, he went 11 rounds out of 12. He got knocked down in the 12th round, but he didn't take any punches before that, because Chavez wasn't throwing any punches. So I don't think it was Chavez. Can that one punch change a guy's life? Maybe. His last fight he didn't look that great, but one thing about that guy, he's a very good athlete. He'll do the best he can. I think he has a little bit of a knee problem, something he'll address before the fight. But to fight him with Cotto is a dream come true, because I know Cotto will fight, and he'll let his hands go. I think it's a great fight for us.