Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach talks to journalists two days before the scheduled fight between Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Roach says aside from helping Pacquiao win over Bradley, he also wants to beat his counterpart Teddy Atlas “badly.” PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA
Famed trainer Freddie Roach said he is willing to train mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor after getting a call from the Irishman’s camp.
“They asked me about training Mcgregor this morning,” Roach told a Fight Hub TV, but declined to reveal who exactly he had talked to. “If he comes, he comes. I’ll help. But I’m not going to train him to fight [Floyd] Mayweather.”
“I have to train him for at least three years to get him ready for Mayweather.”
It wasn’t clear, though, whether it would actually be for the rumored cross-sport megabout against Floyd Mayweather Jr., which both camps have already given credence to.
“No [talk of Mayweather], just to train him,” Roach told Radio Rahim of BoxingScene.com in a separate interview.
Roach, who has trained UFC champion Georges St-Pierre, naturally is a little doubtful of McGregor’s skills as a boxer.
“He’s good at MMA. But boxing? I don’t know,” said Roach, who operates Wild Card Gym in Hollywood where he trained the likes of boxing great Manny Pacquiao.
But Roach made it clear that he could only hone McGregor’s stand up game.
“If he comes, I’ll will help him for sure. If he needs help in boxing, because that’s all I can help him with. I was little bit of a wrestler one time before, but not a good one,” the trainer said with a laugh.
“I don’t know how to get submission holds. I won’t quit, he’ll have to break my arm before I tap out, but I’ll have a broken arm though.”
Whether a fight between Mayweather and McGregor, which is sure to earn millions given both fighter’s track record, would flourish, Roach was a bit more realistic than some hopeful fans.
“Let’s face if. If you fight boxing rules, boxer will win, if you fight MMA rules, MMA fighter will win. That’s just the way it is. They are totally different sports.”