St-Pierre: Roach made me a better fighter

ADD reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship world welterweight titlist Georges St. Pierre to the list of believers of Freddie Roach’s coaching skills.

St. Pierre, who incorporates boxing techniques when fighting opponents during UFC matches, credited Manny Pacquiao’s chief ring tactician for upgrading his boxing skills and making him a better fighter inside the ring.

‘’Freddie (Roach) taught me a lot in boxing the past couple of months I’ve been training with him,’’ said St-Pierre, one of the most recognized figures in Mixed Martial Arts, during a press conference Thursday at the ABS-CBN building.

St-Pierre, who compiled 20 wins against only two losses and is widely considered as the pound-for-pound king in MMA, said that having Roach as his boxing trainer certainly made a huge impact in his stand-up game in the MMA.

St. Pierre said Roach taught him a lot of tricks of the trade to become a superior boxer.

‘’Before I met him, I thought I knew boxing. But he brought me back to school. He is so sound and technical in his approach to boxing. If I just follow what he instructs me to do in my boxing, I believe I can’t be beaten in that discipline in my future fights.”

The 29-year-old Canadian superstar, who is known to train with the best in disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, went to Roach last year and asked the four-time Trainer of the Year to further enhance his boxing skills.

‘’Since I started training with him last year in boxing, I’ve been more accurate and been able to hit harder punches.’’

By continuously training with Roach, St-Pierre expects his boxing to be in full throttle when he defends his title for the fifth time in December against top welterweight contender Josh Koscheck.

In addition, the 5’10” MMA phenomenon said he plans to train with Roach and Pacquiao sometime during his four-day stay here in the country.

‘’I actually plan to drop by and train with him (Roach) here in the Philippines for a bit. I know he’s training Manny Pacquiao here right now.’’

Of course, he also had good words for Pacquiao.

‘’Manny (Pacquiao) is no doubt the best boxer in the world today.’’ Jeric Lopez