Roach-Mayweather word war escalates

MANILA, Philippines - Floyd Mayweather Sr., unusually quiet over the past few days, yesterday went on the offensive and fired shots at his main counterpart, Freddie Roach.

The word war between the two is now in high gear.

Pacquiao’s trainer has said a lot of things against Floyd Sr. since the fight was announced more than three weeks ago.

He said Floyd Sr. “gets so nervous in between rounds, he has trouble getting words out, he kind of stutters halfway through it, and he doesn’t really get the information across to the fighter.”

Roach also told reporters he was more comfortable with Floyd Sr. being in the corner for the May 2 showdown. He believes that Roger Mayweather, the uncle, is the better trainer.

During the official press conference last March 11 in Hollywood, Floyd Sr. was introduced but never said a word.

Yesterday Floyd Sr. took the fight to Roach.

“He can say that all he wants to say it. You want me to tell you what Freddie wants?” he told Mlive.com.

“He wants Roger in there because he knows I’m the man,” Floyd Sr. added.

Many times he’d said Floyd Jr. is going to whip Pacquiao when the two superstars lock horns on May 2 at the MGM Grand.

He reminded everybody of Pacquiao’s horrific knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.

“Of course, any time somebody’s been knocked ice cold like that, man, of course they can get knocked out again – quick, fast and in a hurry,” he told Mlive.com.

“And I’m going to tell you right now, Manny’s going to get his ass kicked, and Freddie’s going to sit his ass down,” he added.

It’s not the first time Roach and Floyd Sr. will be on opposite corners. It’s actually the third time. Nothing has changed between the two.

Roach was in Oscar dela Hoya’s corner when boxing’s golden boy fought Mayweather in 2007. Floyd Sr. won the battle.

In 2009, Floyd Sr. was with Ricky Hatton, who got knocked out by Pacquiao in two rounds.

It’s all squared between them.