Freddie Roach over the years has been downgrading his fighter’s opponents with verbal assaults. In this upcoming bout his tendencies remain the same. In the 24/7 HBO series, he criticized Algieri for not even being in the same class as Timothy Bradley.
Roach went on to say Algieri does not even possess great boxing skills, because all he does is run. Roach stated, “His height doesn’t bother me so much, but his movement does because he runs a lot. He said he boxes, but he doesn’t, he runs. We will chase him down. He is way over his head.”
Roach’s commentary towards Algieri may have different motives. People have speculated Roach is trying to get Algieri to have a more aggressive mind frame leading into the fight, which would favor Pacquiao. Algeiri’s training camp suspects this might be Roach’s game plan, but are not fazed by it, at all.
Algieri’s trainer Tim Lane, knows Algieri is at his best when he utilizes his height and reach. During training camp, they constantly worked on improving Algieri’s boxing skills, and drifting away from Algieri’s natural instinct of being a brawler. They understand Roach may be trying to tempt Algieri to get into a slugfest, but Algieri remains levelheaded throughout the buildup of the fight.
Algieri stated, “My stance is not to go back-and-forth, I am not fighting Freddie. That’s not the man I have to box. You don’t see Pacquiao doing that. That’s Freddie’s prerogative and that’s what he likes to do. That’s not me, even if it helps the promotion of the fight, that’s not my style. It is what it is. If he wants to say that, that’s fine by me. What matters is fight night and myself and Pacquiao.”
