Roach slams Floyd camp for dirty tricks

MANILA, Philippines - Freddie Roach celebrated his 55th birthday yesterday training Zou Shiming for a world title fight and throwing bricks at Floyd Mayweather’s camp.

Roach is in Macau for Shiming’s title fight on Saturday against Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng for the IBF flyweight title at the Venetian Hotel.

During a break in training, Roach spoke to ABS-CBN and accused the Mayweather camp employing dirty tricks as they head to the big fight.

Roach claimed that Mayweather’s manager, Al Haymon, is trying to get in the way between Roach and potential sparring partners for Pacquiao.

“I’m hiring sparring partners, Al Haymon’s people call them up and offer more money for them not to come,” Roach told ABS-CBN.

Already mentioned as getting calls from Roach are unbeaten fighters Rashidi Ellis (13-0) of Massachusetts and Kenneth Sims Jr. (5-0) of Illinois.

It was also stated if these are the two fighters being prevented from working the Pacquiao camp for the May 2 clash with Mayweather.

Roach said he’s not worried because he has others lined up as Pacquiao’s sparring partners.

Top Rank chief Bob Arum is also in Macau for the Shiming fight.

Arum spoke to The STAR yesterday morning and said he’s glad that Pacquiao is already in Los Angeles training for the fight.

The 83-year-old promoter said Pacquiao is better off training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood than in the Philippines.

“Yes because it’s chaos in the Philippines. Everybody’s contacting him and driving him crazy. So, of course it’s better in LA,” said Arum.

From Macau, Arum will fly to Los Angeles on Sunday to be with Pacquiao at the Wild Card Gym on Monday and the entire week.

The formal press conference for Mayweather vs Pacquiao will take place on March 11 in Los Angeles.