Boxing Trainer Freddie Roach on Moving to MMA: 'Any Kind of Fighting, I Like It'

Freddie Roach is one of the world's best known boxing trainers, having worked prepared Oscar De La Hoya to fight Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao to fight Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz, and several other top boxers for high-profile fights.

So the fact that Roach is training mixed martial arts heavyweight Andrei Arlovski for his fight in the upcoming Affliction: Banned show could be seen by some as a sign of the way mixed martial arts is on the rise and boxing is on the decline. But Roach doesn't see it that way. In a conference call to promote the Affliction show today, Roach had this to say:

"I really never had any problem with MMA fighters. I think that both sports are great sports and fight fans are fight fans. ... A lot of boxing people dislike the MMA style of fighting, but I'm a fight fan. Any kind of fighting, I like it."

I feel the same way as Roach -- whether it's boxing or MMA or judo or taekwondo or wrestling or whatever, I like to see two competitors squaring off, and I'm always a little surprised by how many people act as though you have to choose between being either a boxing fan or an MMA fan.


As for what Roach is teaching Arlovski, he said it's simple: "I don't know much about the ground game. I wrestled in high school and that's all I know. I'm just working with him on the stand-up game. ... I just teach him boxing like I would any heavyweight I have."

Said Arlovski of working with Roach, "I was really happy that Freddie let me train with him because I know there's a big line to wait to train with Freddie Roach."