Armed guards patrolling the gym where Manny Pacquiao trains. Stealthy attempts to disrupt Pacquiao’s sparring. And a bit of trash talking just to spice things up two months before the big fight.
Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach may be in Macau for a title fight involving China’s Zou Shiming, but he is making plenty of noise before his return to Los Angeles tomorrow to train Pacquiao for his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. The talk is as old school as Roach, who seems to be giving early notice to the Mayweather camp that the buildup to the fight will be as intense as the bout itself.
“Floyd is so disrespectful,” Roach said by telephone from China. “Manny is the perfect role model for this fight and Mayweather is not. I told Manny we’ve got to beat him for the whole world. There’s no way we can’t win this fight.”
Roach does not much care for Mayweather, and believes that at age 38 he is slowing down. He thinks Mayweather might even be lured by the magnitude of the fight into doing things that will get him in trouble.
“Floyd’s legs don’t move like they once did,” Roach said. “He’s very clever, but the fight is so big he may feel like he has to take a risk and exchange with us. If he does that, that’s the best thing in the world for Manny in my mind.”
And if the fight comes down to cornermen, Roach believes Mayweather will be in real trouble if he is listening to his father, Floyd Sr, who took over as his son’s trainer from uncle Roger Mayweather last year.
“Going against Floyd Sr is a little disappointing,” Roach said. “He just isn’t very good, especially during the fight itself. One of our advantages is having him in the other corner.”
Roach, who played a big part in getting the fight made by bringing promoter Bob Arum and CBS chairman Les Moonves together for talks, said he and Pacquiao have a higher calling than just winning a fight.
“Manny will be performing a public service for boxing when he beats Floyd,” Roach said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB