Freddie Roach was at the center of a controversial mini-brawl at the gym shared by Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios ahead of Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view bout. Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, was upset that the Rios camp was still working out in the gym past their allotted time. Given how regimented some trainers and fighters like their camps -- especially the last few days of a camp -- to be, it’s not unheard of that a trainer would get upset that the other camp had not left the gym.
Video: Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios camps get into fight Tuesday
Members of the Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios camp brawl in the shared gym ahead of Saturday’s pay-per-view bout.
When Roach angrily confronted Rios trainer Robert Garcia and strength and conditioning coach (and former Pacquiao S&C coach) Alex Ariza, things got ugly.
Roach can be seen on the video yelling at the Rios camp and telling them to “get the fuck out” and at one point steps forward and Ariza kicks him in the chest. Ariza claimed that Roach cocked his fist back so he kicked him out of self defense. The video doesn’t show Roach with his fist cocked but the angle doesn’t show everything.
You can hear Ariza mocking Roach’s speech, Roach suffers from Parkinson’s disease, shortly ahead of things getting physical. In 2010 Rios mocked Roach’s speech as well when he was a part of Antonio Margarito’s entourage ahead of Margarito getting beaten nearly blind by Pacquiao.
Garcia also claimed that Roach called one of his friends a “fucking Mexican” and “reporter” Elie Sechback a “fucking Jew” but neither are able to be heard on the video.
Things are ramping up a bit heading into Saturday’s highly anticipated bout, though the two fighters were congenial at the final presser on Wednesday morning.
You can read more, including transcription of the video interviews over at our boxing blog Bad Left Hook.
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