| Interview with Freddie Roach, trainer of Mike Tyson - 16/01/03 On the surface it would seem that Freddie Roach training Mike Tyson is akin to Walter Alston managing the old 'Gashouse Gang' of the St. Louis Cardinals or John Wooden coaching the Detroit Piston 'Bad Boys' of the late '80s. But upon further reflection, the mild mannered trainer might be the perfect guy to train the often moody Tyson. "I had guys like James Toney, Michael Moorer and Johnny Tapia," Roach points out. "I guess I do well with these types of people." Tyson's advisor, Shelly Finkel says, "I think it was a combination of being a good trainer and being a strong disciplinarian." And according to him, Tyson, himself sensed that time was running out on his career. "I think he knows that he's capable of still doing it but that time is going in the opposite direction and he's got to be strong and do what he's got to do." So Roach has been called into service. The last we saw of Tyson, he was getting bludgeoned by Lennox Lewis in June. Tyson has been steadily declining throughout the past decade and was just a shell of himself that night in Memphis. Roach has always maintained that a trainer can only do so much to help a fighter. So how much can he actually aid Tyson at this point in his career? "It's kinda iffy," Roach admits. "I didn't know if I was going to do this. I wasn't going to do this for a payday and if I can't improve the guy, help him out, I wasn't going to just be here for a payday." But Roach says that Tyson so far, has been a willing pupil. "He really respects me, listens to me," Roach said. "After running in the morning we talk for about 15-20 minutes about the fight game. Like when he's getting dressed, we talk, he's such a historian. We have normal, civil conversations, which I don't think a lot of people would expect from Mike." Roach says that he goes running with Tyson every morning at 5:30 and they are up to three-and-half miles a day in terms of their roadwork. Tyson started camp at 244 and Roach says that he's now down into the low 230s. It's all part of a process where Roach is attempting to instill some discipline into the training regimen of Tyson. "I make him work hard and I think he likes that. I don't let him get away with stuff, he told me he hasn't worked this hard since Cus D'amto," said Roach. "The day we were doing mitts, the 10th round he was throwing up and then after he had thrown up, I said, 'OK, Mike, lets finish the round off' He said 'Fuck you', but we finished the round off. So he's responded well, he's working very good. It's actually been no problems at all. I'm very happy with where he is. "He told me he hasn't trained in three years. He said he was just going through the motions and so forth and this was the first time since he got out of jail that he wants to fight. And you know what? With the way he's working, it shows that he does because he's doing the roadwork, he's doing the work in the gym and I've been pushing him real hard." Of course, we've heard this rhetoric from others who have trained Tyson in the past like Tommy Brooks and Ronnie Shields, who are also highly respected as trainers throughout the sport. Like they say, the proof is in the pudding -- something Roach admits. "I think that remains to be seen," when asked just how much of a difference he has made with his new fighter, "because the gym's the gym. I got him looking good in the gym, I got him throwing his jab, I got him throwing combinations -- not looking for the home run. I have him setting up the power shots and he's responded well and he's doing it. But y'know what? It won't show 'till the fight because the gym's the gym and it's two different places with the fight. But if he can carry over what he's doing now into the fight, it's going to be a big improvement." There have been a few changes in this camp for Tyson. First of all, this isn't the Hawaiian vacation that was set up for his bout with Lewis. Roach has temporarily moved out to Las Vegas to work with Tyson on a full-time basis. Also, gone is the heavy-duty body armour that Tyson once pounded away on round after round. "The other guys were doing the mitts with him with the big body suit," Roach explains, "and after three days of watching that, I said, 'That's not what I am'. So I took charge of the camp and I catch him everyday with the mitts. I told Mike 'That big body thing, you can hit the heavy bag and do that. Hit the mitts, be accurate with your shots'." And Roach is also making a few technical adjustments. "I'm actually teaching him how to pivot on his left hook. I said 'Mike, I know Cus taught you how to pivot on the left hook' and he said, 'Of course he did' so I asked him why he didn't do it anymore and he said 'Because those assholes, they let me get away with not doing it. And you're the first one to correct me on it'. He just needs to be retrained, he knows what to do, he just needs to be reminded of it." Oh, yeah, about those 'assholes', Roach has cleaned up what could be best described as Tyson's motley crew of the past decade post-Kevin Rooney. "We have four guys," says Roach. "We have the strength coach, who stretches him and then Tyrone Booze, he's in charge of the sparring partners and then he's got a guy who drives him and that's it. Mike told them all that I'm in charge and do what I say. I'm in charge and they do what I say." So don't expect anyone to be yelling 'guerilla warfare' at the top of his lungs over and over again anytime soon. But there is one last member of the motley crew that remains. "There is one more guy here, Panama Lewis, who I wasn't always a fan off because of the Billy Collins issue and all that stuff," remembered Roach, of the boxing leper who was banned for life from ever working another corner for allegedly taking out the padding on the gloves of Luis Resto in his bout against Collins in the early '80s. The beating was so horrific and traumatic for Collins, that he ended up commiting suicide. "That's just my personal opinion of him but I will say this, he supports everything I say to Mike," he said. And Roach has instituted a rule that basically states: Don't speak, unless you are spoken to. "I told everyone 'Don't talk to Mike unless he asks you a question'. Because I'm responsible for the way he looks," Roach said. "I'm the trainer. Don't tell him to do this or do that. If you have a suggestion, you come to me with it. If I like the idea, then I'll tell him. But I don't want anyone talking to Mike about boxing and that's the way it's been going." One of the benefits of training Tyson is that it's a financial bonanza, but there is a downside. For Roach, working exclusively with Tyson in Las Vegas away from his gym in Hollywood, California means that he has had to neglect his vast stable of fighters. "It's definitely an issue with me," he admits, "because it was good there for awhile. I hadn't gone away in almost three years because I used to go away with Stevie Collins to Europe and stuff like that. But I hate being away from the gym but luckily I got guys there, Justin Fortune is trying to pick up the slack, Macka Foley, my brother Pep, they're doing the best they can." While Roach says that he isn't doing this for just a huge payday -- there is an economic factor that is involved. But it comes with a price. "I still wish I could be there because I got some great prospects and some great kids and that's why I told Mike 'Don't waste my time because I got a lot of fighters at home that I miss and that's what I do and that's why I have the gym'. And that part of it really sucks to me. I am neglecting my fighters but financially I have to take the big fights when they come up because that's what keeps the gym open." Prior to leaving for Las Vegas a day after Christmas, Roach had been up in Big Bear for a couple of months with Johnny Tapia in preperation for his early November bout with Marco Antonio Barrera. And with his large stable of fighters that includes Juan Lazcano, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Dunne and James Toney, Roach has spent a lot of time on the road in recent months. One of his fighters that seems to be suffering from it is his young flyweight prospect Brian Viloria, who has seemingly stagnated in his last three bouts. Roach says that he has to 'light a fire under his ass' but admits that he has to take some of the blame for his uninspired showings. "I'll take a lot of the blame because I can't be there for him and I feel bad about that," he said. But right now he's working with only one fighter, one though, that is grateful for the work being put in. "After the workout yesterday," said Roach of his time with 'Iron' Mike, "he shook my hand and said 'Thanks for pushing me and I'll see you tomorrow.'" |