Freddie Roach is widely considered to be one of the greatest trainers in boxing history, working alongside over 40 world champions during his career.
After calling time on his own professional boxing career, which saw him rack up 40 victories in 53 outings, Roach began working as a training assistant to the late-great Eddie Futch in 1986.
He would go on to establish himself as a world-class trainer out of the iconic Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, where he has coached a number of generational greats including Oscar De La Hoya, James Toney, Miguel Cotto and Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Roach is perhaps best known for his legendary working relationship with eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, who he initially worked with for 34 of his bouts over a 16-year period before their split in 2018, although they did reunite ahead of Pacquiao’s return to the sport in the summer.
In a resurfaced interview, Roach actually revealed James ‘Lights Out’ Toney as the most talented fighter that he ever coached, paying homage to the ‘naturally gifted’ three-weight world champion.
“Toney is the most natural fighter I’ve ever seen. When he says, ‘All you motherf**kers have to train but I was born to fight,’ he means it. The way he moved, the vision he had, to see everything coming at him, he was just so gifted.
“He’s getting older now and getting hit more than ever. At his peak, though, he’d sit on the ropes and make you miss a hundred punches and come back with counter shots. It was something to watch.”
Known for being one of the greatest defensive boxers of his generation, Toney rose to fame during the 1990s where he would share the ring with the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Mike McCallum and Roy Jones Jr.
He would later go on to campaign at cruiserweight where he became the IBF world champion when he defeated Vassiliy Jirov in 2003, going on to beat two-weight undisputed champion Evander Holyfield just months later.
