East Coach vs. West Coach

IT LOOKS like Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather are both upping the ante and hyping to fever pitch the Pacquiao-Hatton duel by making bolder predictions as the fight gets closer.

As of last count, both the venerated Roach and the revered Floyd Sr., predicted kayo victories for their pupils in the third.
So who is the better trainer? Well, it’s too early to tell guys, since the body of work for these guys is yet unfinished; although based on accomplishments, Roach has the edge.

But let me pose this query: Who was the better fighter?

TWILIGHT ZONE. Step right up ladies and gentlemen. It’s the twilight zone, Last Round style.

Freddie “The Choir Boy” Roach, 39 wins, 13 losses, 15 KOs vs. Floyd Mayweather 29 wins, 6 losses, 19 KOs.

The year is 1985, just before Floyd becomes incarcerated in jail. Just like his prized ward, lightweight Roach is moving up to fight welter Floyd at a catch-weight of 142 lbs.

At the initial salvo, Freddie comes forward firing off a lead right hand while trying to push Mayweather back into the ropes. The latter rewards Roach’s efforts by feeding him some jabs.

The supremely conditioned Roach shrugs them off and lands a body shot that catches the backtracking Floyd by surprise. Roach attempts to trap Floyd in the corner but the latter engages him in a clinch.

The fight follows a similar pattern in the next few rounds with Floyd attempting to control the fight with his jab and following through with some nifty combinations. But Roach keeps things competitive by landing some hard shots of his own .

Although Floyd is the naturally bigger man in this fight, Roach appears to land the harder blows. In the fifth, Mayweather’s chin-tucked-behind-the-shoulder defense nets him some positive results as Roach seems to be tiring by missing a lot of his shots.

Roach gets frustrated and goes low for an instant. The replays show the punch to be on the borderline, but Floyd howls in pain like he’s been shot in the nuts. He makes full use of the five-minute break but never misses the opportunity to taunt and hurl some nasty remarks at Roach while prancing back and forth around the ring.

The crowd boos but the fight becomes interesting.

Action resumes with Floyd doing more clinching than fighting. Roach begins to find his rhythm but Floyd continues to score with the jab. A cut opens up on Roach’s left eyebrow in the eighth and from hereon things go downhill for him.

The wily Floyd turns southpaw to keep his right hand closer to the bloody target. Roach is undeterred but it becomes clear that he’s fading fast. He calls on every available ounce of strength to put together one final run in the last round.

He rains blows on Floyd’s shoulders, arm, torso, elbow, whatever…Floyd tries to move around the ring but for an instant, he gets careless. Roach lands a monster right hand a few seconds before the bell, which knocks Floyd down. But he rises at the bell and scorecards reveal a close, but unanimous decision win for the original Floyd.

SCARY. I don’t know about you, but Edwin Valero is looking pretty scary to me. Last Sunday he knocked out hard
punching Antonio Pituala (46- 4, 40 KOs) in two rounds. To date, if you didn’t know, he has knocked out every opponent he has ever faced with only six lasting after the first round.

When he visited Cebu a few months ago, he looked much bigger than ex-WBC lightweight champ David Diaz. But what caught my attention was that look in his eyes.

You know, that same look that Manny used to have when he was still a fighter hungry for recognition—not yearning for retirement.

That look in his eyes when he was a fighter, and nothing more; unlike now, where he also moonlights as a businessman looking forward to a political career.

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/quijano-joy-vs-choir-boy