Freddie Roach Eyes Anderson Silva For Georges St. Pierre Comeback
Boxing trainer Freddie Roach recently teased that all-time great former UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre would take part in a six-week training camp and then decide if he wanted to return to MMA afterward.
Apparently things are going well, because during an appearance on today’s (Mon., November 9, 2015) The MMA Hour, Roach confirmed that he does believe ‘GSP’ will indeed set foot back in the octagon. Things maybe going well, but Manny Pacquiao’s trainer still insisted the final decision would come at the end of the six weeks:
“Yes, I do. He’s so positive, so good, and it was the best three training sessions we’ve ever had.
“He wants to see if he’s hungry for it still, and if he still wants to do it. After six weeks, I know we’ll have a great idea; it’s either yes or no. I knew it was a great idea to do something like that. I haven’t heard of it before, but it does make sense to me, the thing is, if he’s not hungry for it again after six weeks training, you go away, if you are, you come back and get pulled out of vacation.”
Roach continued on about St. Pierre’s training, noting that the 34-year-old legend went through ten straight rounds of hitting the mitts without a break during a recent workout:
“We did have three very, very good workout,” Roach said. “One days we did mitts 10 rounds straight with no rest period, we just worked right through it. He’s not in top, top shape right now, but he made it through the 10 rounds, he was wondering when I’d give him break, but he never asked. We just went 10 rounds straight.”
It appears that Roach’s six-week boot camp won’t be an easy walkthrough for the former champ, either, as Roach plans on putting ‘GSP’ through some actual fights so he can truly knows if he wants to come back or not:
“During the six-week session we’re going to have actual fights in my ring,” he said. Downstairs, they’ll be private, we will have fights, they’ll be competitive, no holding back, that’s part of process of getting to know if you still want to do this, guys will come down and help us out and give us an idea where we’re at in in the sport right now.”
That’s all a part of getting St. Pierre in the best possible readiness to return if that is his decision. Roach is all for leaving on top, but doesn’t want to see his famed champion wait until it’s too late to do that. He knows how fighters hold on to ‘what if,’ so if St. Pierre truly is hungry, he wants him to get back into the big time while he still has the time:
“Sometimes if you’re unsure, and the rest of your life you’re saying ‘what if.’ I don’t like that. I don’t like guys saying ‘what if I fight that one more fight. What if I get in shape and fight for the title again.’ I don’t like that either. There’s certain ways to go out, I do like when people go out on top, it’s a great thing. But sometimes in your own mind, if you can’t get over it, you make that comeback later on when it’s too late. So I’d like to see know and make sure [St-Pierre is] hungry for it and see if he’s ready for the big time again.”
As for whom ‘GSP’ would fight, Roach prefers it that he not step right back into a title shot. The best course of action for St. Pierre according to Roach is to take a couple of fights first, and one that caught his eye was the always rumored and elusive superfight with Anderson Silva if it were able to be agreed upon:
“I would like him to go get back into it, build yourself up, and not fight the top guys right away,” Roach said. “Get a couple fights he’s supposed to win, build his confidence and so forth. We can do it here in the gym but it’s better in real life. Build his confidence up to where he wants to win a world title again. That’s the only way. The Silva fight would be great if we can come up with catch weight everything agreeable on.”
