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Freddie Roach was once the man tasked with saving the fumbling career of Amir Khan, and he did a good job in that regard, leading Khan to a world title at 140 pounds before the two eventually split following Khan's loss to Danny Garcia in 2012.
After the split, Khan said that Roach's Parkinson's disease had slowed him down as a trainer, which Roach says is nonsense. The trainer also isn't impressed with the results of Khan's pairing with Virgil Hunter thus far, either.
"I wasn't overly impressed with him [against Julio Diaz in Sheffield last year]. The greatest defensive coach in the world must not be doing his job. They make this guy [Virgil Hunter] the best defensive coach in the world because he has Andre Ward. He did not make Ward; Ward made him."
"I'm just upset about why Amir had to talk bad about me, you know. I never did anything bad to him in my life. I just tried to help him the whole way through. He told me if I make him No 1 above Manny Pacquiao then he'll come back to me, but then all of a sudden it's my Parkinson's slowing me down. It's all bull****. I'm better today than I was 20 years ago."
Roach believes that Khan (28-3, 19 KO) will have his hands full with Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO), as those two are set to meet in Khan's official welterweight debut on May 3, as part of the Mayweather-Maidana card.
Roach's feelings on Virgil Hunter have been echoed by many in and around the boxing community in recent months, as the trainer has become a more high-profile name in the game thanks to his success with Andre Ward. Is it Hunter being "overrated," or simply having more normal results now that he's taking on more name fighters?