Freddie Roach Says Amir Khan Fired Him Because Of His Parkinson’s And Manny Pacquiao; Khan Answers Back And Refutes Roach’s Claims

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach revealed that he still bears resentment towards former student Amir Khan because he didn’t like the way the Bolton-born boxer parted ways with him.

In an interview with Fight Hype, Roach said that Khan fired him when he refused to make Khan his top priority over Manny Pacquiao. Roach added that Khan implicated that his Parkinson’s disease was affecting his competence to train fighters.

“I don’t like the way he fired me a little bit, so I do hold that against him a little bit,” Roach said. “I wouldn’t do him any favours.”

Khan, on the other hand, was quick to refute the claims made by the 54-year-old trainer. According to Khan, he has always shown consideration and regard for Roach. He said that he had been honest when he talked to Roach about his plans of switching trainers.

The former British world champion also stressed that he had no problems with Roach’s Parkinson’s disease. In fact, Khan has high admiration for Roach for being a “great trainer” despite battling the said degenerative disease of the central nervous system.

Khan also contested Roach’s statements about him wanting to be the top priority over Pacquiao. Khan said that he was one those fighters who enter and leave Roach’s Wild Card boxing gym in Los Angeles “quietly.”

“I sat in front of him and spoke about my future, and it had nothing to do with Manny Pacquiao or his Parkinson’s,” Khan said. “It was only that I wanted to move to a different trainer, learn different things, and work on the defense.”

Khan started working with Roach in 2008. During the duo’s partnership, Khan has claimed two world titles, namely the World Boxing Association Light Welterweight title that he won against Andreas Kotelnik on July 18, 2009 and the International Boxing Federation Light Welterweight title that he won against Zab Judah on July 23, 2011.

In September 2012 and after four years of being under Roach’s guidance, Khan announced on Twitter that he parted ways with Roach. Since then, Khan has appointed Virgil Hunter as his new trainer.

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