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Just a Few Blocks Away, But Thousands of Miles Apart
By Steve Kim (May 10, 2007) Photo © Wild Card Boxing Club

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When Freddie Roach accepted the assignment of training Oscar De La Hoya for his May 5th bout versus Floyd Mayweather, it represented a career-high payday (a reported $750,000 base salary, with that going over a million bucks if 'the Golden Boy' could topple Mayweather) but this pay-off would come at a price.

Roach would have to go to Puerto Rico to train De La Hoya, meaning that he would have to leave behind his deep stable of fighters, including his Filipino stalwart Manny Pacquiao, who was so instrumental in elevating Roach's status as a trainer. As Roach headed east, his top assistant, Justin Fortune, would take over the main duties of preparing 'the Pac Man' for his bout against Jorge Solis in San Antonio, Texas, in addition to his duties in conditioning him.

Fortune, a fixture at the Wild Card Boxing Club off of Santa Monica and Vine in Hollywood since 2001, is now no longer there. Instead, he is training his own fighters just a few blocks away at the LB-4-LB Gym on La Brea and Wilshire, approximately 3 miles south.

But the gap between Roach and Fortune is Texas-sized.

Their dispute?

What else?

This being boxing, it can only be about money.

And when Roach would fly into San Antonio to work Pacquiao's corner last month, a dispute would break out between the two over the $200,000 training fee. Roach would offer Fortune half that amount for his work, while the former heavyweight had a much larger percentage in mind for the work he put in on a day-to-day basis.

Complicating things is that it was Fortune's name on the contract, meaning that he received the money from that fight. Bob Arum, who so far is winning the tug-of-war for Pacquiao's services, had no problems signing over the money to Fortune, believing that Roach had acted as an agent to bring Pacquiao to Golden Boy Promotions prior to the third bout with Erik Morales back in November.

So now, Roach and Fortune have gone the way of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.

"Well, it's unfortunate because money does funny things to people," said Roach on Tuesday afternoon back at his familiar haunts. "But I've had Pacquiao for six years, he's my fighter, I developed him. Justin, I gave him the job as strength coach and then when I was away with De La Hoya, he trained Manny for three weeks and then I came and worked the corner and Manny called me every time and we were in communication and so forth. He's my fighter and Bob Arum is still mad at me for introducing Manny to Golden Boy. But he wrote my 10-percent check out to Justin Fortune.

"Justin cashed the check and he doesn't want to give me any of the money. So the day before I went home, he left the gym. He's scared to even face me, I guess, because he's working at LB-4-LB, I hear. Good luck to him."

When you ask Fortune what took place, he says flatly: "I left the Wild Card. Just some disputes with me and Freddie and it's time for me to move on. I want to train my own fighters. So here I am. I am just at the LB-4-LB till I get my own gym. I'm looking at properties now.

"He believes he deserves half for not training him and leaving to train Oscar," continued Fortune on Wednesday afternoon. "I don't believe he deserves half. And I have the check."

As for a resolution, he says, "It hasn't been resolved. But what's to resolve? He believes he deserves half and I don't."

Call it the price of success. Roach, in recent years, has become one of the most coveted trainers in the sport, the downside being that some of his boxers may not get that much one-on-one instruction in his always busy establishment. In taking the job with De La Hoya, that meant leaving his fighters for two months. It was Fortune's duty at that point to not only train Pacquiao, but to be in charge of the Wild Card.

"I was at his gym for five years. He left to train Oscar, I had no problem with that," says Fortune. "It's a bigger payday, which is great. Now I hear he's training Bernard Hopkins, which is even better. Why is he after me? I just trained Manny, I was the trainer. If he went to another trainer, would Freddie be asking the other trainer for half the money? I don't understand why he's doing that, but whatever."

Given the litigation between Top Rank and Golden Boy, and the fact that he hadn't worked with Pacquiao leading up to the contest, many were surprised that Roach flew in to work the fight at the Alamodome.

“That situation, that's the way it had to be," Roach would explain. "All of a sudden Justin's like, 'We don't know if Freddie's coming.' All the way up till the last minute. I talked to Manny every night, he knew I was coming to the fight and that was the agreement we had. When I told him about the Golden Boy offer to train Oscar he told me to take the job. He said, 'I'll be OK. Don't worry about it.'

"Justin watched Manny for three weeks and Manny doesn't need a babysitter. He knows how to work. And I don't think Justin taught him anything new and stuff. So me and Manny were fine. And Justin Fortune will not be Manny's trainer. He might think so, but I've already talked to Manny many times about it."

Not surprisingly, the native of Australia has a different recounting of events.

“We had no idea," he says. "He says he was going up there and he was always going up there but we didn't know he was going up there. Because he never told us, 'Yeah, I'm coming up.' He never told anyone. He never phoned me and told me he was coming up."

While money is central point of this discord, the issue of respect and stature are also evident. Fortune bristles at being pigeonholed as strictly a 'strength and conditioning coach.' Especially from Roach.

"I got labeled with that tag, strength and conditioning coach,' He's not a trainer, he's just a strength and conditioning coach.' F**k that. I'm more than that. I've done far more. I don't have as much experience as Freddie, obviously, because he's been in the game a lot longer than me, but I'm far more than a strength and conditioning coach. I'm a really good trainer and a strength and conditioning coach and a nutritionist. I'm a lot more."

Roach thinks that outside forces are driving a wedge between the two.

"The thing is, Bob Arum's telling Justin that I'm keeping him in the shadows and he's a better trainer than me," he says. "He told me he wanted to go on his own but he wanted to go on his own with me. He'd just have his own fighters. That would be great. But the thing is, the money issue. The Israel Vazquez fight, he cashed the whole check and that's half mine. I thought I was being generous, I said, 'I'll give you half.' And that half, they’re my fighters."

"I trained Vazquez for it, Freddie did the mitts with him a couple times and then he went away on the press junket with Oscar and I ended up finishing him off," countered Fortune. Vazquez would lose his 122-pound title to Rafael Marquez in March. "I never got paid for the last fight with Jhonny Gonzalez. It was just pretty much evening up, if that's the way you want to look at it."

All the way up until just a few days before that appointment at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, it was unsure if Roach would work Vazquez's corner.

Vazquez has shuffled his way out of the Wild Card and has gone with Fortune.

"Israel certainly feels comfortable with Justin and he's a great conditioner," says his manager, Frank Espinoza. "But certainly I need to bring somebody else in, a strategist. But Israel's always had a good rapport with Justin."

Espinoza says this decision was made jointly between the fighter and himself. Vazquez-Marquez II is slated to take place in early August.

"I'm comfortable with the situation," Espinoza says. "It's unfortunate that I can't have Freddie there because I don't know what his plans are in the future. I don't want any disruptions in my camp like there was the last time when I was looking forward to having Freddie there and of course he had other commitments. I think it disrupted camp. This is such an important fight, the rematch with Marquez, I don't need any outside distractions."

As for the issue of Pacquiao, don't expect a custody battle a la Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

"Freddie seems to think that I want to steal Manny - I don't steal fighters," stated Fortune, sharply. "And I don't want to steal Manny. I'm just out of the gym. I'm not interested in stealing fighters, I don't want that label. And I haven't stolen any of his fighters, nor do I intend to. He can train Manny, he wants to train Manny and Manny wants to train with him, then that's fine. I don't care.

"Leave me alone. Let me get along with my own business and I'll build my own stable and I'll make my own way in this sport. That's all I want to do," he continued. Fortune says boxers like Vazquez were not talked into coming with him. "These guys are grown
men. I said, 'I'm going here. You can stay here, make your own choice.' Israel chose to come with me. I've been with Israel for a long time too. A long time."

When asked if perhaps he felt Roach had taken him for granted, Fortune would answer: "Sometimes. But I don't really look at it like that. So it doesn't bother me. I was there to learn and if he did, then that's his fault, not mine."

Roach had been in a similar situation years ago, having served an apprenticeship under the legendary Eddie Futch after his days in the ring.

"I remember when it was time for me to go out on my own after five years with Eddie. It was just time. And I told Justin it might be his time. But I didn't steal any of Eddie's money."

When asked if perhaps this duo had irreconcilable differences, Fortune would chuckle just a bit, and say, "Well, we're both very stubborn, so I'd say so."

As for the money issue?

"The lawsuit’s already been filed," claimed Roach.

LOOKING BACK

So what were Roach's thoughts on De La Hoya's split decision loss to Mayweather after reviewing the fight on tape?

“I know we could've fought a better fight. It was my first fight with Oscar and he was doing very well early in the fight with the jab," he would say. "But then in the middle rounds, for some reason, he crouched down and gave away his height to Mayweather a little bit and he widened his stance and took his jab away from himself. I urged him to get back on his toes and jab. It just wasn't there that night. But I thought Mayweather looked good in rounds nine, ten and eleven, threw some good combinations and so forth. But I think we came back in the 12th. We had a very good round.

"So I thought we had it by a round. But it was a close fight."

Some observers wondered why Roach, who's low-key by nature, wasn't more demonstrative in the corner as the tide changed. Would he be a bit more vocal with Oscar a second time around?

"Possibly, the thing is, obviously when the camera swings to my corner, my instructions are always to take a deep breath to get his wind so he can absorb what I'm saying. So by the time I talk to him, they've gone to the other corner. But maybe I will be a little more forceful, but again, it was my first time with him. I knew him from the gym but working the corner during a fight, it's a whole different experience. Obviously, if we had the luxury of a tune-up fight it would've been great. But we didn't at that time. But I think it'll be much smoother next time around. I'd probably get a little bit louder in the corner and get his attention a little bit."

With the pay-per-view numbers being record setting- procuring over two million subscribers - it almost seems that a rematch is ordained. De La Hoya has had no problems in the past getting rid of trainers after losses, so does Roach expect to wind up in his corner again?

"I think we have a good relationship. I do think I will be back in the corner. Obviously, Floyd Sr. was campaigning for the job after the fight by saying his son lost," Roach said, while laughing. "But me and Oscar do have a good relationship and I tried to contact him yesterday just to see how he's doing. I just left a message for him. I think if he does fight again, we'll be together, I'm sure."

So how did it feel to go up against the greatest fighter of all-time in Mayweather?

"That's pretty funny," said Roach, nearly choking on his own laughter, at the thought. "He's a good little boxer but you can't measure him in the same sentence as those guys (like Ray Robinson and Ray Leonard), c'mon."

THE GOLDEN TRAINER

Make no doubt about it, Roach has become the preferred trainer at Golden Boy Promotions. He has confirmed published reports that he is thisclose to working with Bernard Hopkins for his July 21st date with Winky Wright.

"They're working out the details right now. We came to an agreement and we had a meeting and it's about 95-percent yes," said Roach, who also mentioned that 'the Executioner' would be coming to the Wild Card Boxing Club to train.

FINAL FLURRIES

'Fearless' Frank Espinoza says that former WBA 115-pound titlist Martin Castillo will be fighting in Tijuana, Mexico on Saturday in a ten-rounder and then they will focus in on a third bout with Alexander Munoz, the current WBA champion....I've been told that the rematch between Marquez and Vazquez could take place in either Hidalgo, Texas, Temecula, California (at the Pechanga Resort and Casino) or Las Vegas....The pay-per-view numbers for 'the World Awaits' proves once again that undercards don't sway the numbers one iota, which is bad news for the hard-core boxing fan....Can you believe it, just one more episode of 'King of Queens'. Leah Remini is definitely going out on top of her game.......