SI honors Pacquiao’s trainer

Just like the boxers he trains, Freddie Roach continues to strive and learn.

No wonder, he is regarded as the best trainer of this generation.

His unprecedented six Trainer of the Year awards from the Boxing Writers Association of America (2003, 2006, 2008 to 2010 and 2013) and enshrinement in boxing’s Hall of Fame are ample proofs that he is the yardstick as far as training and steering boxers to victories are concerned.

It was thus hardly surprising that the 54-year-old Roach, a former boxer known for his resiliency, earned another distinction as Sports Illustrated’s Trainer of the Year for 2014.

The ring resurrection of his two famous boxers, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, speaks volumes of Roach’s capability and credibility as a master teacher of the Sweet Science.

Pacquiao exacted revenge on Tim Bradley in Las Vegas last April before knocking down erstwhile unbeaten American Chris Algieri six times en route to a unanimous decision victory in their World Boxing Organization welterweight title fight in Macau last November.

Cotto, on the other hand, completed his recovery from the 12th-round stoppage he suffered against Pacquiao in 2009, when he halted Sergio Martinez in the 10th round last June to capture the World Boxing Council middleweight crown and become Puerto Rico’s only four-division world champion.

Also under Roach’s wing is China’s Zou Shiming, a two-time Olympic (2008 Beijing and 2012 London) and three-time World Amateur (2005, 2007, 2011) champion, who will be seeking the IBF flyweight title against Thai Amnat Ruenroeng in Macau on March 7 next year.

Despite being afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, Roach has so far trained 27 world champions.