Boxing Trainers Freddie Roach, Floyd Mayweather Battle Over Top Spot

When Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Ricky “Hitman” Hatton meet in “The Battle of East and West,” more than just Hatton’s IBO junior welterweight championship belt will be at stake.

The ante will also include Pacquiao’s coveted title as boxing’s No. 1 pound for pound fighter. Simultaneously the stakes will be just as high for their respective trainers Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather, Sr., acknowledged as the two best trainers in the game today.

The promotion commissioned a specially designed four-tier trophy, measuring over five feet in height, with the inscription “No. 1 Pound for Pound Best Trainer in the World,” to be presented to the trainer of the winning fighter.

The trophy was unveiled to the trainers and international media covering this evening’s red carpet Hollywood premiere news conference for “The Battle of East and West,” at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, CA, which hosted the very first Academy
Awards eighty years ago.

Though “The Battle of East and West” isn’t scheduled to take place until May 2, the war of the words between the two trainers began in earnest the minute the fight was announced.

“They’ve got Roach in the Hall of Fame; he should be in the Hall of Shame,” said Mayweather. “Let’s tell the truth like it is, you see Freddie Roach training and you see me training, it’s night and day. Don’t even compare. Don’t even come close. Freddie Roach is a joke. And that’s why I say his name is ‘Freddie the Joke Coach Roach,’ as far as I’m concerned.”

Roach, recently named 2008 Trainer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America for an unprecedented third time, has his own take on Mayweather.

“Floyd can read some good poems that’s all he’s good at that I know of. What has Floyd Senior achieved? His son’s a natural-born fighter. His brother Roger trained him anyway. Floyd never trained his son for a world title fight. He tells me he’s the greatest, but what has he done? He trained Oscar De La Hoya after Oscar has already won four world titles. Floyd is a legend in his own mind.”

Pacquiao vs. Hatton “The Battle of East and West,” presented by Rockstar Energy Drink and promoted by Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, in association with MP Promotions and Hatton Promotions, is a 12-round bout for Hatton’s IBO Junior elterweight title.

The fight is also sponsored by Cerveza Tecate and Southwest Airlines. Remaining tickets, priced at $1,000, $750, $500, $300 and $150, can be purchased through Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available online at www.mgmgrand.com.

The Pacquiao vs. Hatton pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, has a suggested retail price of $49.95, will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For Pacquiao vs. Hatton fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com.