Boxing News: Floyd Mayweather blasts Freddie Roach after Cotto's defeat, says trainer isn't 'legendary'
Retired boxer and former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. slammed Hall of Famer Freddie Roach following the loss of the latter’s fighter Miguel Cotto over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Saturday (AEDT Monday).
Mayweather has fired shots at the credentials of Roach, questioning the seven-time Boxing Writers Association Trainer of the Year winner’s status as a legendary boxing trainer after Cotto lost to Alvarez via 12-round unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
“I hear people talking about Freddie Roach is a legendary trainer, but I think Cotto was fighting the same way before he got with Freddie Roach,” Mayweather said, reports Boxing News. “ I don’t have anything against Freddie Roach, but he’s not a legendary coach.”
Mayweather has got the better of Roach’s top fighter Manny Pacquiao in their super-fight in May, where he won via split decision. He last fought in September against an unlikely opponent in Andre Berto. “Pretty Boy” then retired from boxing after his victory, capping off his career record to 49-0.
Meanwhile, Roach believes that Cotto should have won the bout against Alvarez despite the Mexican champ dominating the Puerto Rican fighter. Roach added that he would like to have a Cotto vs Canelo rematch, but will have to wait and see if it is possible.
“All four of our cornermen, none of us were concerned about losing the fight,” Roach said, reports Fight News. “We all had our guy ahead. I apologize if I offended anybody, but I still think we won the fight though.”
The WBC mandated the winner of the fight to face the Kazakh knockout artist Gennady Golovkin to a title defense. Alvarez has 15-days to decide whether he will negotiate with “GGG,” or relinquish the WBC middleweight title and make the latter the automatic champ.
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