This is one of those stories where you hope a guy was misquoted, or taken out of context, or just plain lost their mind.
Earlier today, former junior welterweight champion Amir Khan told Edward Chaykovsky of Boxingscene.com that he dumped Hall-of-Fame Trainer Freddie Roach from his corner at least in part because of his illness:
Freddie's illness, it's very hard to see him as he's getting older. I believe that he's getting worse, and I wish him all the best. Freddie is still, with the Parkinson's disease, doing a great job working the mitts and working with fighters day in, day out. I just believe that I need someone who is going to work me that bit harder and get the best out of me
Roach, 52, has suffered from Parkinson's Disease for a number of years. The disease, which affects the central nervous system, is known to cause shaking and problems with motor functions in its early stages.
It often leads to cognitive and behavioral problems, such as dementia, in its later stages.
In the past, Roach's doctors have credited his boxing work as helping to slow the course of the disease. (Via/MyDesert)
So because of his illness, Freddie Roach didn't work you hard enough in camp, and that's why you needed a new trainer?
This is one of those situations where the truth doesn't even matter. This could be 100-percent correct and Khan would still be 100-percent wrong for bringing it up. There was just no reason to even go there.
Say you needed a new trainer because his methods weren't working anymore.
Say you needed a new trainer because you felt you learned all you could from Roach and wanted a new set of eyes on your progress.
Say, like Khan did, that he simply didn't have the time to dedicate to him, with an ample stable of big-name fighters.
But don't, under any circumstances, say you left the man because he was sick.
That's not just bad public relations, or bad marketing. It makes you look like a bad person.
It makes you look like someone who is making excuses, even the most horrible, to hide their own failures.
Was it Freddie Roach's illness that made Amir Khan stop boxing Danny Garcia and instead exchange shots. which led to getting knocked out?
Was it Freddie Roach's illness that gave Khan that glass jaw for which he has now became famous in the ring?
The time for Amir Khan to shut up and fight has long come and gone. His mouth just keeps getting him in more and more trouble.
Whether its true or not, and despite his concern for the well-being of his former trainer, this was a subject Khan had no right bringing to the discussion.
Read more Boxing news on BleacherReport.com
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