Freddie Roach Denies Steroid Use by Manny Pacquiao

A former professional boxer, Freddie Roach has not fought competitively since retiring in October 1986.

But during an exclusive interview with FanHouse from Los Angeles on Tuesday, the 2009 Trainer of The Year seemed as if he was ready to lace up the gloves and go after rival trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Hearing for the first time that Maywether Sr. has implied that steroid use had contributed to the rise in weight of Manny Pacquiao, his No. 1 fighter and boxing's 2009 Fighter of the Year, Roach, fired back, among other things, "Where in the hell did that come from?"

Roach also addressed the notion from the camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr. that Mayweather -- not Pacquiao -- should be known as boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound.

Roach spoke on the confusion over not being able to reach Pacquiao a few weeks back, and their choice for where they will train for Pacquiao's Nov. 14 bout opposite World Boxing Organization champion Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Roach initially had hoped to prepare for Cotto in Toluca, Puerto Vallarta or Cancun -- all in Mexico -- or the Bahamas.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, had been unavailble largely because he was filming a movie in which he plays a superhero whose skills are a combination of those of Superman and Spider-Man, according to publicist, Fred Sternberg.

Freddie RoachQ & A with Freddie Roach

Lem Satterfield: What were the reasons you and Manny fell out of touch recently?
Freddie Roach: We had a little trouble getting in touch with him a couple of weeks ago because he was in the Phillipines and before he came to America, so we didn't really communicate that much. But I was trying to find out where and when he wanted to begin training. When he came to New York, we worked it out in five minutes and it was fine. We're going to do four weeks in Baguio [Phillipines] and the last four weeks at the Wildcard Gym and then we'll be fine.